MEMORIAL 


GENERAL  ULYSSES   S.  GRANT. 


MEMORIAL 


ULYSSES  S.  GKANT 


FROM      THE 


CITY    OF    BOSTON. 


The  humblest  soldier  who  carried  a  musket  is  entitled  to  as  much  credit  for  the  results 
of  the  war  as  those  who  were  iu  command.  —  Speech  of  Grant  in  Hamburg,  Germany,  1877. 

Although  a  soldier  by  profession,  I  have  never  felt  any  fondness  for  war,  and  I  have 
never  advocated  it  except  as  a  means  of  peace.  —  Speech  of  Grant  in  London,  1877. 


BOSTON: 
PRINTED     BY     ORDER     OF     THE 

M  I)  C  C  C  L  X  X  X  V  . 


CITY     COUNCIL. 


PRESS  OF 
^ROCKWELLS 


CHURCHILL* 


BOSTON. 


CITY    OF    BOSTON. 


IN  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN,  October  26,  1885. 

Ordered,  That  the  Clerk  of  Committees  be  authorized  to  prepare  for  publication 
the  proceedings  of  the  City  Council  upon  the  death  of  Gen.  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT, 
together  with  an  account  of  the  Memorial  Services  on  the  22d  of  October,  at 
Tremont  Temple,  including  the  Eulogy  pronounced  on  the  occasion  by  Eev. 
HENRY  WARD  BEECHER;  that  six  thousand  copies  be  printed,  and  fifty  copies 
furnished  to  each  member  of  the  City  Council,  and  the  remaining  copies  dis 
tributed  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Printing ;  the  expense  thereby 
incurred  to  be  charged  to  the  appropriation  for  Incidentals. 

Passed.     Sent  down  for  concurrence. 
Nov.  5,  came  up  concurred. 
Approved  by  the  Mayor  Nov.  7,  1885. 
A  true  copy. 


Attest : 


AUG.  N.  SAMPSON, 

City  Clerk, 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

ACTION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT         ........  9 

Death  of  Gen.  Ulysses  S.  Grant ]] 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN .13 

Remarks  of  His  Honor  Mayor  O'Brien .13 

Resolutions  offered  by  Alderman  Hart    .......  16 

Remarks  of  Alderman  Hart     .........  17 

Remarks  of  Alderman  Donovan       ........  19 

Action  relative  to  attending  Funeral  and  holding  Memorial  Services    .  21 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL 23 

Remarks  of  William  M.  Osborne 23 

Remarks  of  Isaac  Rosnosky     .........  25 

Remarks  of  William  Taylor,  Jr.                27 

Remarks  of  Harvey  N.  Collison 28 

Remarks  of  Charles  W.  Whitcomb .               •   .         .         .         .         .         .  29 

Remarks  of  Benjamin  B.  Jenks        ........  30 

Remarks  of  Francis  L.  White 31 

Remarks  of  William  IT.  H.  Emmons         .......  31 

MEETING  IN  FANEUIL  HALL    ..........  37 

Opening  Address  of  His  Excellency  Governor  Robinson       ...  42 

Resolutions  offered  by  Ex-Mayor  Prince 46 

Remarks  of  Ex-Mayor  Prince  .........  47 

Address  of  Hon.  Charles  Devens      .......         „  50 

MEMORIAL  SERVICES         ...........  61 

Prayer  by  Rev.  B.  F.  Hamilton         ........  64 

Ode  by  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe       ........  67 

Poem  by  Miss  Louise  Imogen  Guiney    .......  69 

EULOGY  BY  HENRV  WAUD  BEECHER 75 

FINAL   PROCEEDINGS         ...........  101 

CHUONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  GENERAL  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT  105 


ACTION   OF   THE   CITY  GOVERNMENT. 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT. 


ULYSSES  SIMPSON  GRANT,  the  eighteenth  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  illustrious  Union  General,  died  at  eight 
minutes  past  eight  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  Thursday,  July  23, 
1885,  at  Mount  McGregor,  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

For  several  months  prior  to  his  death  General  Grant  had 
been  suffering  from  a  cancerous  affection  of  the  throat,  which 
had  assumed  a  malignant  character  and  seriously  undermined  his 
health,  and  occasioned  to  his  friends  the  deepest  anxiety  regard 
ing  his  condition.  Upon  the  advent  of  warm  weather  his 
physicians  advised  his  speedy  removal  from  his  city  home  in 
New  York  to  the  more  favorable  retirement  of  the  country,  and, 
on  the  sixteenth  day  of  June,  he  was  accordingly  conveyed  to 
the  summer  residence  of  Mr.  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  at  Mount 
McGregor,  in  the  Adirondacks.  He  arrived  at  his  destination  in 
an  extremely  weakened  condition,  but  afterwards  rallied,  and  at 
times  during  the  interval  of  his  sojourn  at  Mount  McGregor 
seemed  to  improve  in  health  and  strength.  With  characteristic 
fortitude  ho  bore  the  torments  of  a  cruel  and  fatal  disease  without 
a  murmur,  and  almost  in  the  face  of  death  calmly  devoted  his 
closing  days  to  the  preparation  of  his  memoirs.  This  task  appar 
ently  engrossed  the  mind  of  the  dying  hero,  and  his  life  was 
spared  long  enough  to  enable  him  to  complete  the  literary  labor 
he  had  undertaken.  He  lingered  but  a  few  short  weeks  in  his 
new  home, — weeks  of  pain  and  suffering  on  his  part,  and  of 
tender  solicitude  on  the  part  of  his  friends  and  the  nation  for 


12  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

whom  he  had  done  so  much.  His  death  took  place  as  above 
stated,  and  General  Grant  passed  away,  surrounded  by  the 
members  of  his  household  and  loving  friends,  and  mourned  by  the 
whole  civilized  world. 

The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  General  Grant  was  flashed  by 
telegraph  over  the  country,  and,  immediately  upon  the  reception 
of  the  sad  news  in  Boston,  the  fire-alarm  bells,  with  their  solemn 
tolling,  announced  to  our  people  that  the  dying  General,  whose 
sufferings  had  so  long  held  their  hearts,  had  closed  his  earthly 
career. 

The  following  call  was  issued  by  His  Honor  Mayor  O'Brien  to 
the  members  of  the  two  branches  of  the  City  Council  to  assemble 
in  their  respective  chambers  and  take  appropriate  action  regarding 
the  calamity  that  had  befallen  the  nation  :  — 


CITY     OF     BOSTON. 

EXECUTIVE    DEPARTMENT, 

July    23,    1885. 

To  the  Honorable  City  Council  of  Boston :  — 

Having  been  informed  of  the  death,  which  occurred 
this  morning,  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  ex-President  of  the 
United  States,  you  are  hereby  requested  to  assemble  in 
your  respective  chambers,  on  this  Thursday  afternoon,  at 
two  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  such  action  touch 
ing  the  sorrowful  event  as  will  appropriately  express  the 
sympathy  of  our  citizens  over  this  national  bereavement 
and  their  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  de 
ceased. 

HUGH   O'BRIEN, 

Mayor. 


ACTION    OF    THE   CITY    GOVERNMENT.  13 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    BOARD    OF    ALDERMEN. 

His  Honor  Mayor  O'BRIEN  presided  and  read  the  call,  which 
was  sent  down. 

The  Mayor  then  made  the  following  address  :  — 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN,  —  It  is 
a  solemn  event  which  calls  us  together  to-day.  The 
news  of  the  death  of  General  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT  is 
in  the  possession  of  the  world.  Throughout  civilized 
countries  the  announcement  of  that  sad  fact  is  visibly  felt. 
The  nation,  which  the  dead  hero  did  so  much  to  preserve, 
has  the  unqualified  sympathy  of  all  other  lands  at  this 
moment.  This  fact  alone  is  one  of  the  strongest  evidences 
of  the  greatness  of  the  departed. 

When  we  glance  at  the  past,  and  reflect  on  the  achieve 
ments  of  General  Grant,  it  is  not  strange  that  America 
keenly  mourns  his  loss.  No  citizen  of  the  present  gen 
eration  has  stood  so  prominently  before  the  public  as 
General  Grant,  or  has  rendered  more  distinguished  ser 
vices  to  his  country.  Comparatively  unknown  at  the 
commencement  of  the  late  war,  his  patriotism  and  love  of 
country  led  him  to  take  an  active  part  early  in  the  strug 
gle,  and  his  bravery,  his  courage,  and  his  indomitable  will 
soon  placed  him  at  the  head  of  our  army. 

During  the  long  struggle  that  followed,  in  victory  or 
defeat,  he  never  faltered.  Determined  and  resolute,  he 
felt  the  importance  of  his  position.  He  knew  that  on  his 
success  depended  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  He  was 
always  true  to  his  country,  and  his  name  will  be  honored 


14  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

and  respected  for  all  time  for  the  distinguished  services 
he  rendered  that  country  in  her  hour  of  need.  An  in 
domitable  will  and  courage  characterized  his  whole  life, 
even  through  the  dark  days  which  preceded  his  journey 
into  the  valley  of  death.  If  he  had  any  faults  they  are 
forgotten  in  remembrance  of  his  many  virtues. 

When  peace  was  proclaimed  he  was  elevated  by  his 
fellow-countrymen  to  the  highest  position  in  their  gift. 
As  the  successor  of  Washington,  and  Adams,  and  Jef 
ferson,  and  Jackson,  and  Lincoln,  he  became,  by  common 
consent,  the  first  man  in  the  republic,  and  it  may  well  be 
said  of  him  that  he  was  "  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

Now  that  he  has  gone,  it  is  our  duty,  as  liberty-loving 
people,  to  place  upon  record  our  tributes  of  love  and  re 
spect  for  his  memory  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  and  a  soldier. 
While  all  other  sections  of  the  Union  are  remembering 
him,  Boston  desires  to  add  its  grateful  acknowledgments 
for  the  services  he  rendered  it  as  a  part  of  this  republic 
in  the  dark  days  of  war.  Honesty  of  purpose,  courage, 
patriotism,  and  honor  were  among  the  qualities  which  he 
possessed  in  an  eminent  degree.  These  were  all  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  his  country  at  a  time  when  their  worth 
was  of  inestimable  value.  The  whole  Union  profited  by 
them,  and  the  city  of  Boston  will  ever  cherish  the  share 
of  glory  and  honor  which  came  to  it  through  the  efforts 
of  this  renowned  soldier. 

In  the  prime  of  life  he  has  been  taken  from  among  us. 
With  a  robust  constitution,  there  was  a  prospect  that  he 
would  live  for  many  years,  and  enjoy  a  peaceful  old  age. 
Providence  has  willed  it  otherwise. 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  1 

It  is  sad  to  reflect  that,  in  the  late  financial  crisis,  the 
last  year  of  his  life  was  one  of  trouble  and  embarrass 
ment,  through  no  act  of  his,  ^nd  over  which  he  had  no 
control.  He  lost  his  worldly  possessions,  but  he  pre 
served  his  manhood,  his  integrity,  and  his  honor,  by 
voluntarily  giving  up  all  that  he  possessed,  even  the 
presents  that  a  grateful  nation  and  admiring  friends  had 
forced  upon  him.  He  met  the  disaster  with  the  same 
courage  and  fortitude  that  marked  every  act  of  his  public 
life. 

His  countrymen,  however,  were  determined  that  he 
should  never  suffer  financially.  From  all  sections  of  the 
land  Congress  was  petitioned  to  place  him  on  the  retired 
list  of  the  army,  so  as  to  enable  him  to  pass  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  peaceful  repose.  He  was  not  permitted, 
however,  long  to  enjoy  this  manifestation  of  the  gratitude 
of  the  nation.  It  came  at  a  time  when  the  hand  of  death 
had  marked  him  as  its  victim;  but  it  must  have  been  a 
consolation  to  him,  in  his  dying  hours,  to  know  that  his 
country  held  him  in  such  grateful  remembrance. 

All  honor  to  his  memory!  Eternal  peace  to  the  great 
soldier,  the  true  patriot!  Since  he  stood  in  the  breach, 
some  twenty  years  ago,  the  nation  has  wonderfully  in 
creased  and  prospered.  We  are  more  united  than  ever. 
There  is  now  no  doubt  about  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  Fifty-five  millions  of  people  now  mourn  his  loss 
and  bless  his  memory.  Every  State  and  city  and  town  in 
the  republic  now  mourns  for  the  illustrious  dead.  His 
name  for  all  time  will  be  handed  down  as  the  benefactor 
of  his  country  and  of  his  race. 

In  this  hour  of  mourning   we  should   remember   that 


16  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

death  spares  no  one.  We  must  all  pass,  sooner  or  later, 
to  that  "undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourn  no 
traveller  returns." 

"The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power, 

And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour,  — 
The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

I  would  suggest  that  arrangements  be  made  by  the 
City  Council  to  have  a  formal  eulogy  pronounced  at 
an  early  day  upon  the  life  and  character  of  General 
Grant. 

The  Chair  awaits  the  pleasure  of  the  Board. 

Alderman  HART  offered  the  following  :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  of  Boston  has  learned 
with  the  profoundest  sorrow  of  the  death  of  General 
ULYSSES  S.  GRAKTV  ex-President  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  city  of  Boston,  in  common  with  our 
fellow-citizens  in  all  sections  of  the  country,  desires  to 
express  its  sincere  sorrow  over  this  national  bereavement, 
and  to  offer  its  tribute  of  affection  and  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  gallant  hero  whose  acts  in  life  have  done 
so  much  to  preserve  our  Union. 

Resolved,  That  by  the  death  of  General  Grant  the 
country  has  lost  an  illustrious  soldier,  whose  fame  is 
world-wide,  and  whose  name  will  ever  be  reverenced  by 
the  whole  American  people.  As  a  patriot  he  will  be  re 
membered  always  with  love  and  gratitude  by  all  future 
generations.  In  history  the  name  of  Grant  must  be 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  17 

coupled  with  those  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.  Like 
them  he  was  a  man  of  great  deeds,  the  fame  of  which 
will  never  die. 

Resolved,  That  General  Grant's  life  is  eminently  wor 
thy  of  emulation  by  all  intelligent  and  patriotic  young 
men,  noted,  as  it  was,  for  a  strict  regard  for  all  the 
virtues  in  private  life,  and  for  doing,  in  his  official  career, 
only  those  things  which  have  redounded  to  the  benefit 
of  all  his  countrymen.  The  type  of  citizen  which  was 
portrayed  by  these  qualities  is  the  only  kind  through 
which  this  country  can  be  preserved. 

jResolved,  That  the  members  of  the  City  Council,  indi 
vidually  and  collectively,  extend  to  the  afflicted  family  of 
the  deceased  ex-President  their  warmest  and  sincere 
sympathies  in  this  sorrowful  hour. 

Alderman  HART  said  :  — 

Mr.  MAYOR,  —  The  noblest  tribute  which  we  pay  to  the 
most  illustrious  men  is  to  understand  them  rather  than 
to  praise  them,  and  to  act  in  our  sphere  of  life,  be  it  wide 
or  narrow,  as  they  acted  in  theirs.  General  Grant  has 
been  intrusted  with  the  very  highest  powers  and  honors 
in  the  gift  of  the  American  people.  A  special  military 
rank  was  created  that  he  might  adorn  it.  Yet  he  re 
signed  it  in  order  to  fill  the  presidency,  to  which  he  was 
called  by  the  suffrages  of  his  countrymen.  So  marked 
and  profuse  were  the  favors  which  the  greatest  nation  on 
earth — our  nation  —  showered  upon  the  eminent  captain 
who  crushed  the  rebellion,  that  some  of  our  best-informed 
and  truly  patriotic  fellow-citizens  charged  him  with 


18  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Caesarism.  But  what  followed?  Suspected  at  home  by 
the  few,  who  misjudged  him,  General  Grant  encircled  the 
globe,  and  received  the  heartfelt  homage  of  mighty 
rulers  and  great  foreign  nations.  Then  he  returned  to 
the  unostentatious  simplicities  of  private  life,  and  finally, 
broken  in  health  and  fortune,  tried  to  retrieve  his  shat 
tered  estate  by  the  humble  labors  and  toils  of  his  pen. 

Thus  has  he  illustrated  the  virtues  which,  in  centuries 
long  past,  made  Rome  the  mistress  of  the  world.  He  has 
wielded  the  power  of  a  Caesar  without  making  a  Caesar's 
mistake.  He  never  sought  power  or  place:  they  were 
conferred  upon  him  by  a  free  people.  He  never  asked  for 
popular  favors:  they  were  offered  to  him.  As  very  few 
men  he  has  been  honored,  trusted,  admired,  loved.  And, 
lest  his  cup  should  run  over,  he  has  been  called  upon  to 
taste  the  bitterness  of  life  to  its  very  dregs.  He  has  been 
betrayed  by  those  whom  he  trusted;  he  has  suffered 
shame  and  reproach  from  those  whom  he  shielded  and 
honored.  He  has  tasted  the  triumphs  of  victory,  when 
the  cause  of  our  Union  was  trembling  in  the  scale;  twice 
has  he  occupied  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  than 
which  there  is  no  higher  place  on  earth;  and  yet  this 
captain  of  an  incomparable  army  of  freemen,  this  supreme 
magistrate  of  the  great  republic,  has  been  selected,  in  the 
course  of  nature,  which  is  the  providence  of  Almighty 
God,  to  suffer  in  body,  mind,  and  estate,  like  the  hum 
blest  and  the  sorrow-laden  of  men  whose  name  and  fame 
will  not  be  recorded  by  the  Muse  of  History. 

General  Grant  leaves  to  us  an  example  of  vast  power 
never  perverted  to  the  detriment  of  his  country.  On  the 
field  he  fought  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union;  in  the 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  19 

highest  civil  office  he  defended  the  honor  of  his  country; 
and  everywhere  he  retained  that  simplicity  of  conduct 
which  is  the  honor  of  the  true  republican.  And  this 
example,  chastened  by  grief  and  sorrow,  thank  God,  is 
imperishable.  Surely,  his  fame  is  secure,  and  though  he 
himself  will  no  longer  be  seen  in  the  public  or  private 
society  of  his  country,  the  very  grief  which  now  fills  our 
hearts  with  most  tender  emotions  and  our  eyes  with  the 
tribute  of  our  tears  indicates  that  in  a  very  high  sense  a 
noble  man  cannot  die.  The  Union,  one  and  inseparable,  is 
not  so  much  his  monument  as  the  handiwork  and  crown 
of  his  immortal  daring.  He  lives  in  the  United  States,  in 
the  hearts  of  its  people,  in  all  true  hearts.  And  as  long 
as  republican  freedom  lives,  so  long  will  General  Grant, 
the  great  commander,  the  defender  of  our  honor,  and  the 
simplest  of  men,  live  as  truly  as  if  there  were  no  death, 
and  as  if  the  natural  course  of  a  human  life  were  but  its 
own  sunrise  and  sunset. 

Alderman  DONOVAN   said  :  - 

Mr.  MAYOK,  —  In  rising  to  second  the  resolutions  that 
have  been  offered  by  Alderman  Hart,  I  desire  to  do  so  in 
recognition  of  the  valuable  services  which  have  been 
rendered  by  General  Grant  to  the  nation.  The  history  of 
our  land  is  full  of  the  deeds  of  her  children  who  have 
added  lustre  to  her  glory;  yet  among  them  all  there  is 
not  one  whose  services  have  been  fraught  with  such 
lasting  results  for  the  people's  and  the  nation's  good  as 
those  of  the  dead  soldier  for  whom  we  mourn  to-day. 
When  the  war  cloud  of  rebellion  lowered  upon  us,  and  in 


20  MEMOEIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.     GRANT. 

the  darkest  days  of  those  stirring  times,  a  strong  man 
was  given  to  us,  who,  by  his  ability  and  generalship, 
turned  the  tide  of  victory  in  favor  of  the  Union.  It  is 
not  claiming  too  much  to  say  that  to  General  Grant,  as 
much  as  to  any  one  man,  we  owe  the  perpetuity  of  our 
free  institutions  and  the  continuation  of  our  government 
as  an  undivided  Union.  This  was  accomplished  when 
the  rebellion  was  overthrown  and  the  war  was  at  an  end. 
Called  from  the  camp  and  field  — which  he  had  rendered 
illustrious  in  the  annals  of  the  world's  history  —  to  the 
council  of  the  nation,  he  brought  the  same  sterling  quali 
ties  and  indomitable  will  and  energy.  The  ruler  of  armies 
became  the  ruler  of  a  peaceful  nation.  His  administration 
as  President,  as  regards  the  individual,  was  above  re 
proach.  The  faults  and  errors,  if  there  were  any,  were 
born  of  the  times,  and  were  the  result  of  the  transition 
through  which  the  people  were  passing.  When  from  war 
and  armies  we  changed  to  the  pursuits  of  peace  and 
happiness  no  man  can  say  that  the  chief  magistrate  of  a 
free  people  could  have  been  worthier  or  more  patriotic 
than  he  who  had  led  the  Union  armies  to  victory. 
In  other  lands  he  who  serves  the  state  and  fights  her 
battles  is  crowned  with  titles,  gifts  of  money  and  worldly 
honors;  but  in  our  country  they  crown  the  hero  with  the 
love  of  the  people.  Years  have  passed  since  General 
Grant  contributed  those  great  services  which  will  ever 
render  his  memory  green  and  give  him  a  place  in  the 
people's  love  with  Washington  and  Lincoln.  To-day,, 
after  having  missed  a  soldier's  death,  he  lies  dead,  while 
a  whole  nation  mourns.  His  last  days,  though  clouded 
with  worldly  troubles,  were  brightened  by  the  esteem  and 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  21 

love  shown  for  him  by  his  fellow-countrymen.  I  am 
forcibly  reminded  here  of  that  time  when  rude  dissension 
divided  the  people  of  the  Union,  and  of  those  words  of  the 
great  General,  "  Let  us  have  peace."  It  found  an  an 
swering  echo  in  the  hearts  of  millions.  To-day  fifty  mil 
lions  of  freemen  give  forth  that  sentiment,  and  pray  that 
he  to  whom  they  owe  so  much  may  rest  in  peace. 

On  motion  of  Alderman  Donovan  a  rising  vote  was  taken. 
The  resolutions  were  passed  unanimously.     Sent  down. 

Alderman  WELCH  offered  the  following :  — 

Ordered,  That  His  Honor  the  Mayor  cause  the  City 
Hall  and  Faneuil  Hall  to  be  appropriately  draped,  the 
flags  to  be  displayed  at  half-mast  upon  the  public  build 
ings  and  grounds,  and  to  have  the  City  Hall  and  other 
public  buildings  closed  on  the  day  and  the  bells  tolled 
during  the  hour  set  apart  for  the  funeral  of  the  late  Gen 
eral  Grant. 

Passed.      Sent  down. 

Alderman  WHITTEN  offered  the  following :  — 

Ordered,  That  a  joint  special  committee,  consisting  of 
His  Honor  the  Mayor,  the  Chairman,  and  two  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  the  President  and  three 
other  members  of  the  Common  Council,  be  appointed  to 
attend  the  funeral  of  the  late  ex-President  Grant,  the  ex 
pense  attending  the  same,  together  with  all  other  expenses 
incurred,  to  be  charged  to  the  contingent  fund  for  joint 
committees. 


22  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Passed,  and  Alderman  HART    and  WELCH  were  appointed  on 
said  committee.     Sent  down. 


Alderman  DONOVAN  offered  the  following :  — 

Ordered,  That  a  eulogy  upon  the  life  and  public  ser 
vices  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant  be  pronounced  at  an  early  day 
before  the  City  Council  and  the  citizens  of  Boston,  and 
that  a  committee  of  three  members  of  this  Board,  with 
such  as  the  Common  Council  may  join,  be  appointed  to 
make  suitable  arrangements  therefor. 

Passed,  and  Aldermen  DONOVAN,  CURTIS,  and  FERNALD  were 
appointed  on  said  committee.     Sent  down. 

The  Mayor  read  the   following :  — 

EXECUTIVE    DEPARTMENT, 

July  23,  1885. 
To  the  Honorable  City  Council :  — 

I  transmit  herewith  for  your  consideration  a  communi 
cation  from  C.  F.  Hartson,  Superintendent  of  Tremont 

Temple. 

HUGH   O'BRIEN, 

Mayor. 


BOSTON,  July  23,  1885. 
Hon.  HUGH 


DEAR  SIR,  —  As  the  city  authorities  will  no  doubt  de 
sire  to  suitably  honor  the  memory  of  the  late  great  com 
mander  of  our  armies,  and  ex-President  of  the  United 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  23 

States,  who  has  just  passed  away,  in  behalf  of  the  trustees 
I  respectfully  tender  to  the  City  Council  the  free  use  of 
Tremont  Temple,  at  such  time  as  they  may  please  to  des 
ignate  for  such  a  purpose,  and 

Remain,  very  respectfully, 

C.   F.    HARTSOE", 

Superintendent. 

Referred,  on  motion  of  Alderman  Donovan,  to  the  Committee 
on  Eulogy. 

Adjourned,  on  motion  of  Alderman  Hart. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   COMMON   COUNCIL. 

The  Common  Council  was  called  to  order  at  2.20.  President 
Jenkins  in  the  chair,  and  a  quorum  present. 

The  call  was  read  and  placed  on  tile. 

The  resolutions  adopted  hy  the  other  branch  were  read  and 
were  put  on  their  passage. 

Mr.    OSBORNE,   of  Ward   21,   said:  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  I  rise  to  utter  a  few  words  in  sup 
port  of  the  sentiments  so  appropriately  expressed  in  the 
resolutions  before  us.  This  is  the  third  time  in  the  his 
tory  of  this  great  nation  that  the  hearts  of  the  whole 
people  have  been  bowed  down  with  sorrow  at  the  un 
timely  death  of  one  of  our  most  distinguished  men. 

Twenty  years  ago  last  April  the  assassin's  bullet  took 
away  from  us  our  good  and  great  President,  Abraham 


24  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Lincoln.  It  was  in  the  moment  of  his  greatest  happiness, 
when  the  cares,  anxieties,  and  great  responsibilities  of  a 
long  and  bloody  war  were  almost  at  an  end.  The  great 
Captain  whom  we  mourn  to-day  had  borne  to  Washington 
and  laid  at  his  feet  the  surrender  of  Lee  and  the  army  of 
Virginia.  * 

Four  years  ago  the  whole  people  were  stricken  with 
grief  at  the  death  of  the  murdered  Grarfield.  And  now 
to-day  we  are  met  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to  him 
who  has  been  foremost  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  people,  our 
General  of  the  Army.  He  was  never  defeated  in  war,  and 
from  Fort  Donelson  to  Appomattox  all  along  the  line  are 
written  the  glories  of  his  great  victories.  His  name  is 
the  most  illustrious  borne  by  any  man  in  his  time.  He 
has  stood  upon  the  highest  pinnacle  of  human  distinction. 
His  renown  has  filled  every  land  under  the  sun,  and  with 
modesty,  meekness,  and  simplicity  he  has  seen,  not  only 
the  poor  and  the  humble,  but  the  titled  nobility  of  all 
Europe  and  Asia  bow  and  uncover  before  him. 

He  had  that  estimable  quality  of  mind  and  heart  that 
never  allowed  him  to  forget  his  friends.  "  Their  adoption 
tried  he  grappled  to  them  with  hooks  of  steel."  If  he  had 
a  weakness,  it  was  that  of  trusting  his  friends  too  im 
plicitly;  but  it  is  a  weakness  rather  to  be  praised  than 
censured. 

In  his  terrible  suffering  he  showed  that  same  silent 
endurance  and  patient  fortitude  and  courage  that  were 
ever  with  him  as  our  great  commander,  and  having 
passed  safely  and  successfully  through  "  the  most  disas 
trous  chances  of  moving  accidents  by  flood  and  field," 
he  has  been  left  to  contend  with  that  malignant  monster 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  25 

known  as  cancer  of  the  throat,  and  the  heroism  of  the 
closing  hours  of  his  life,  with  his  mind  clear  and  tranquil, 
went  beyond  that  of  the  battle-field.  Suffering  untold 
agony,  as  the  disease  daily  gnawed  at  his  throat,  he 
fought  death  as  an  equal. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Council,  we  remem 
ber  what  General  Grant  did  when  many  of  our  present 
voters  were  in  their  cradles.  We  remember  the  nation's 
peril,  its  tribulations,  its  safety,  and  how  he  foresaw  its 
growth,  and  its  destiny.  In  such  a  moment  as  this  we  recog 
nize  the  dead  patriot  as  posterity  and  history  will  know 
him.  In  this  recognition  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East 
and  the  West,  Democrat  and  Republican,  black  and  white, 
become  as  brothers.  The  dead  hero  wrought  for  us  all. 
Great  was  he  in  life,  but  greater  will  he  be  in  death.  And 
while  time  shall  last,  and  mankind  shall  hear  of  the  deeds 
of  Washington,  Lincoln,  and  Grant,  they  will  stand  out 
as  the  three  great  characters  of  American  history.  We 
will  ever  guard  Avith  equal  and  sleepless  vigilance  their 
mighty  worth,  and  cherish  their  memories  forever. 

"  They  were  tlie  lustre  lights  of  their  day, 
The     .     .     .     giants, 
AVho  clave  the  darkness  asunder, 
And  beaconed  us  where  we  are." 


Mr.  ROSXOSKY,  of  Ward   16,   said:  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  I  desire  to  second  the  resolutions 
that  have  been  offered  in  respect  to  the  acts  and  career 
of  the  great  Union  General  whose  death  has  just  taken 
place;  and  I  wish  to  speak  from  the  stand-point  of  one 


2()  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

born  in  a  foreign  land,  who  came  to  this  country  at  an 
early  age,  and  has  ever  since  enjoyed  those  privileges 
which  have  been  secured  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  largely  through  the  successful  efforts  of  the  dead 
hero  whom  we  now  revere. 

Coming  to  this  country,  as  I  did,  when  the  civil  war 
was  in  progress,  and  from  a  country  where  military 
genius  was  looked  upon  with  the  greatest  admiration 
I  could  not  fail  to  take  the  deepest  interest  in  the  stirring 
events  that  were  then  taking  place,  in  the  terrible  strife 
that  was  raging  between  the  contending  armies  of  the 
North  and  the  South ;  and  as  my  sympathies  were  all  in 
the  cause  of  the  former,  my  attention  was  especially  and 
immediately  called  to  the  leaders  of  the  Union  armies. 
General  Grant  was  at  that  time  just  coming  into  promi 
nence,  and  had  begun  to  make  himself  felt  in  the  struggle 
which  he  was  destined  to  carry  through  to  a  successful 
termination.  His  genius  as  a  military  commander  had 
already  asserted  itself,  and  I  well  remember  his  gradual 
but  steady  progress,  from  seeming  obscurity  in  an  un 
important  place  in  the  South-west  to  the  proud  position 
of  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Union  Armies.  No  one 
who  lived  in  those  stirring  times  can  ever  forget  how 
the  hopes  of  the  nation  were  centred  around  this  one 
man,  and  how,  when  Lee's  surrender  at  Appomattox 
occurred,  and  the  rebellion  received  its  death-blow, 
General  Grant  was  hailed  as  the  second  deliverer  of  his 
country,  and  assigned  to  a  position  side  by  side,  I  might 
almost  say,  with  the  immortal  "Father  of  his  country," 
George  Washington. 

The  earthly  career  of  the  great  Union  General  is  now 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  27 

terminated,  but  the  remembrance  of  his  great  deeds,  and 
the  greater  benefits  he  secured  thereby  to  his  country, 
will  long  linger  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Criticism  is 
out  of  place  upon  an  occasion  of  this  kind.  History,  in 
calmer  mood,  will  mete  out  full  justice  to  the  dead  hero; 
and,  in  the  meantime,  it  is  but  right  and  proper  to  refer 
to  those  conspicuous  traits  in  the  character  of  General 
Grant  that  command  our  admiration,  and  that  we  all  should 
emulate.  Mr.  President,  I  second  the  resolutions. 

Mr.  TAYLOU,  of  Ward  8,   said  :  - 

Mr.  PRESIDENT, — It  is,  sir,  a  sad  duty  that  devolves 
upon  me  to  add  to  what  my  friend  from  Ward  16  has  said 
in  seconding  the  passage  of  the  resolutions.  The  occa 
sion  is  a  cause  of  regret  for  our  country,  our  State,  and 
our  city.  In  politics  there  are  principles  which  divide  us, 
but  at  such  a  time  as  this,  sorrow  cloaks  all  but  our 
mourning  in  forgetfulness.  In  the  country's  history 
there  have  been  many  men  of  the  hour  who  have  received 
the  homage  of  the  American  people.  To  a  Washington, 
a  Jefferson,  a  Jackson,  a  Lincoln,  and  a  Grant  has  this 
homage  of  a  great  people  been  bestowed.  At  such  a 
time  as  this  we  forget  whatever  of  doubt  we  may  have 
had  of  the  wisdom  of  personal  acts,  and  alone  remember 
the  patriot  and  leader  of  a  host  in  which  many  who  were 
dear  to  us  fought  for  the  glory  of  the  old  flag.  We  alone 
see  the  American,  the  soldier,  and  the  loyal  citizen,  and  in 
our  admiration  forget  our  prejudices.  In  his  many  trials 
and  sufferings  for  the  past  year  the  reunited  country 
looked  pityingly  towards  his  bedside,  and  from  the  en- 


28  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

campments  and  reunions  of  the  boys  who  wore  the  gray 
have  been  sent  greetings  of  peace,  love,  and  good-will  to 
the  great  commander  of  the  blue,  and  to-day  they  mourn 
the  common  loss  of  the  whole  nation.  In  bidding  fare 
well  to  General  Grant,  we  do  so  not  as  to  a  successful 
politician,  not  as  to  a  military  chief,  but  rather  as  to  a 
fellow-countryman  and  loyal  citizen. 

Mr.   COLLISOX,  of  Ward  G,  said  :  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  For  that  great  General  to  whom  so 
often  and  so  justly  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  America 
have  offered  the  laurel  wreath,  for  him  to-day  we  twine 
the  cypress.  Day  after  day  has  the  struggle,  so  sure  to 
end  in  death,  gone  on.  Hope  has  given  way  to  anxiety, 
anxiety  to  fear,  and  fear  to  final  despair.  ]STow  the  end 
has  come,  and  the  country  weeps  at  the  loss  of  her  son 
who  braved  danger  in  all  its  forms  for  freedom's  sake. 
His  life  was  above  all  that  of  a  true  American.  There  is, 
perhaps,  no  other  land  in  the  world  where  such  a  career 
could  have  been  possible.  Born  in  humble  state,  owing 
nothing  to  rank,  he  flies  at  the  nation's  call  to  her  rescue; 
stoutly,  too,  did  he  stand  for  her,  —  a  tower  of  strength  in 
the  darkest  hours;  and  then,  when  at  last  peace,  follow 
ing  her  victorious  eagles,  comes  again,  he  is  hailed  as  his 
country's  saviour.  Having  served  bravely  and  well  upon 
the  field  of  battle,  he  yields  to  the  mighty  cry  of  his  coun 
trymen,  and  is  elevated  to  the  chair  of  Washington  to  lead 
in  happier  and  more  peaceful  ways  the  people  whom  he 
loved  so  well,  preserving  always  the  simplicity  and  purity 
of  his  character,  and  then  goes  back  to  retirement,  re- 


f 

ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  29 

taining  still  the  love  of  all.  Wherever  floats  the  starry 
flag  of  freedom,  the  flag  that  inspired  our  dead  hero  in 
the  victorious  and  glorious  services  he  gave  his  country 
that  liberty  and  unity  might  continue  to  exist  in  the 
Western  World,  the  name  and  the  fame  of  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  soldier,  President,  patriot,  are  known  everywhere, 
even  to  the  humblest  and  lowliest  of  God's  creatures.  I 
need  not  tell  you  of  the  life  of  this  man.  It  is  an  open 
book,  which  every  man  has  read,  and,  reading,  wondered 
and  admired.  Now  the  last  page,  the  last  words,  have 
been  written ;  never  will  that  book  be  closed,  but  still  open 
will  it  remain  as  the  years  and  the  ages  roll  on  forever 
ceaselessly,  an  inspiring  incentive  to  love  of  country. 

Mr.  WHITCOMB,  of  Ward  18,  said:  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  I  desire  to  add  but  a  word  to  the 
tributes  already  paid  to  the  departed  by  the  eloquent 
remarks  of  my  fellow-members  in  the  Council.  As  I 
listened  to  their  inspiring  and  fitting  words  I  have 
been  reminded  how  inadequate  to  express  the  wide 
spread  grief  of  our  nation  and  city  are  all  human  utter 
ances.  General  Grant,  our  grandest  soldier  since  the 
days  of  Washington,  a  sufferer  for  months  with  a  malig 
nant  disease,  and  without  complaining,  has  at  last  been 
released  from  his  earthly  bondage,  and  his  patient  and 
patriotic  soul  borne  to  its  haven  of  final  rest.  But 
although  he,  by  his  physical  presence,  will  never  again 
inspire  the  victorious  army  on  martial  fields,  nor  success 
fully  undertake  the  important  responsibilities  of  official 
civil  life,  which  as  President  of  the  United  States  he  so 


30  MEMORIAL    OP    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

modestly  assumed,  yet  his  noble  career,  as  remarkable  as 
it  was  honorable,  shall,  in  its  perpetuation  in  the  history 
of  our  country,  live  forever  an  enduring  monument  to  his 
patriotic  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  human  liberty  and 
to  his  undying  and  exemplary  devotion  to  the  welfare  of 
his  native  land.  May  the  grateful  memory  of  a  sorrow- 
stricken  people  keep  forever  fresh  in  the  minds  of  our 
youth  the  name  of  one  of  America's  most  honored 
Presidents,  and  greatest  benefactors,  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 
I  join  most  heartily,  Mr.  President,  in  seconding  the 
resolutions. 

Mr.   JENKS,   of  Ward  9,   said  :  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  To-day  the  tolling  bells  of  mourning 
announced  to  the  citizens  of  the  republic  that  a  most  illus 
trious  and  honored  man  had  passed  away.  For  weeks  a 
grateful  and  sympathetic  people  had  directed  anxious 
attention  to  the  bedside  of  the  patriot  sufferer.  We 
gladly  embrace  the  occasion  to  offer  our  tribute  of  respect 
and  devotion  to  the  memory  of  one  whom,  through  years 
of  trial  and  adversity,  when  the  life  of  the  nation  was 
endangered,  was  regarded  as  our  leader,  and  in  whom  we 
placed  our  faith,  confidence,  and  dependence.  Later, 
when  the  impending  dangers  of  civil  discord  had  rolled 
away,  we  recall  the  unanimity  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
a  grateful  people  called  him  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
highest  honor  in  the  gift  of  the  republic. 

His  term  of  office  expired,  modest  and  unassuming,  he 
retired  to  private  life  with  the  blessings  of  all  his  fellow- 
citizens  upon  him.  That  one,  whose  life  had  been  spent 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  31 

in  the  midst  of  danger  and  great  affairs,  should  be  taken 
from  us  by  insidious  disease,  which  preyed  upon  his  life 
and  rendered  his  last  moments  those  of  great  suffering 
and  pain,  we  can  but  deeply  deplore,  recognizing  through 
it  all  the  heroic  fortitude  with  which  he  bore  the  affliction. 


Mr.  WHITE,  of  Ward   17,  said:  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  It  seems  to  me  that  I  can  add 
nothing  more  to  what  has  been  covered  by  the  resolutions. 
He  who  was  our  greatest  citizen,  a  man  more  eminent 
and  honored  here  and  abroad  than  any  citizen  or  ruler  of 
any  nation,  has  been  stricken  with  death.  He  was  an 
undaunted  soldier,  a  magnanimous  conqueror,  the  Presi 
dent  and  ruler  who  loved  his  whole  people  and  his  whole 
country.  He  stood  before  the  world  the  first  American 
citizen,  not  because  he  was  the  leader  of  our  armies  or  the 
President,  but  because  he  represented  American  citizen 
ship  in  all  its  breadth;  and  his  memory  will  be  loved  and 
cherished  by  the  people  of  the  North,  South,  East,  and 
West,  as  long  as  the  stars  and  stripes  are  the  emblems 
of  our  nation.  I  join,  Mr.  President,  in  seconding  the 
resolutions. 


Mr.  EMMONS,  of  Ward   1,   said:  — 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  —  I,  too,  endorse  the  resolutions  now 
before  the  Council.  It  is  fitting  that  the  city  of  Boston 
should  meet  by  its  representatives  on  this  day  and  testify 
to  the  respect  which  we  have  for  the  distinguished  dead, 


32  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES     S.    GRANT. 

and  to  mingle  our  sorrow  with  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
citizens  of  this  republic,  and  with  the  family  of  the  de 
ceased.     On  this  day  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  are 
turned   to   Mt.  McGregor.     There   lies    a   man,  stricken 
with  death  only  this  morning,  who  made  a  name  which 
shall  be  immortal.     That  man,  born  in  obscurity  a  little 
more  than  sixty-three  years  ago,  spending  forty  years  of 
his  life  in  obscurity,  bounded  in  four  years  to  the  foremost 
place  in  this  nation.     That  man  must  have  been  a  man  of 
genius.     That  man  must  have  been  raised  up  of  God  to 
meet  the  emergency  which  came  upon  this  nation.     And 
well  did  he  meet  that  emergency.     Starting  in  the  West 
when  the  disasters  to  our  arms  in  the  East  had  cast  down 
the  nation,  and  rendered  us  fearful  that  a  great  calamity 
might   come    upon   us  which  would   ruin   the  nation,  - 
starting  in  the  West,  at  Fort  Donelson,  he  threw  the  first 
ray  of  cheer  upon  our  darkened  horizon;  and  from  that 
day  to  Appomattox,  as  has  been  well  said,  he  brought  us 
nothing  but  good  tidings.     In  every /emergency,  wherever 
he  has  been  placed,  he  has  acquitted  himself  as  a  faithful 
servant,  and  as   the  master  of  the  situation.     When  at 
Yicksburg,  the  attack  upon  the  North  had  failed,  when 
the  design  of  cutting  off  the  city  by  a  canal  had  failed, 
passing  his  army  down  the  west  side  of  the  river,  compel 
ling  the  gunboats  to  run  the  batteries  that  crowned  the 
height  and  lined  the  water-side,  throwing  his  army  across 
to  the  south  side  of  the  city,  and  swinging  out  from  his 
base  of  supplies,  he  fought  two  armies  at  once,  separated 
them,     drove    one     army    into    Yicksburg     and     there 
imprisoned   it,  and   then  defeated   the  other,  —  the   man 
that  did  that  must  have  been  a  man  of  genius,  especially 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  33 

when  we  know  that  he  did  it  in  the  face  of  the  adverse 
counsels  of  most  of  his  subordinate  officers. 

When  one  army  was  shut  up  in  Chattanooga,  when 
another  army  was  beleaguered  at  Knoxville,  General 
Grant  was  summoned  to  the  relief  of  those  armies,  and 
well  did  he  acquit  himself  there.  Summoning  his  forces 
from  different  quarters,  until  he  was  able  to  assume  the 
aggressive,  he  fought  the  battles  above  the  clouds, 
stormed  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge,  and 
drove  the  enemy  back.  The  man  who  did  that  was  cer 
tainly  a  military  genius  of  the  highest  order.  Summoned 
afterwards  to  take  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
I  well  remember  when  he  came  there,  for  I  was  one 
of  the  humble  soldiers  of  the  army.  I  remember  with 
what  cheer  he  came  to  us,  and  how  we  believed  he 
would  finally  lead  us  to  victory;  and  he  did.  And 
soon  the  Wilderness  and  Appomattox  crowned  the 
victorious  army  with  success,  and  crowned  him  with 
laurels  also.  At  Appomattox  not  only  was  he  crowned 
with  military  laurels,  but  he  was  crowned  with  other 
laurels  too.  The  foe  having  laid  down  his  arms,  the 
spectacle  was  presented  of  the  victor  feeding  the  van 
quished,  and  saying  unto  them,  "  Go,  and  be  disturbed  no 
more,  so  long  as  you  observe  your  parole  and  the  laws  of 
the  land."  From  that  time  to  this  they  have  not  been 
disturbed,  and  it  was  owing  to  the  clemency  of  General 
Grant,  I  have  no  doubt,  that  much  mischief  was  averted 

from  this  nation.     I  think  that  in  the  battles  of  the  Wil- 
i 

derness  the  genius  of  General  Grant  shone  out  most 
illustriously.  It  may  be  easy  to  read  of  those  battles,  to 
see  that  so  many  thousand  men  battled  with  each  other, 


34  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

that  so  many  were  killed  and  wounded;  but  to  work  out 
the  details  of  those  battles  required  a  master  mind.  Op 
erating  troops  in  the  midst  of  woods  is  no  easy  task ;  but 
General  Grant  distinguished  himself  there,  and  showed 
the  military  genius  which  he  had  exhibited  through  the 
war.  Forming  his  lines  with  the  roads  in  his  rear  he 
was  ready  to  meet  the  attack  of  General  Lee  whenever 
he  chose  to  bring  on  his  columns  to  the  assault.  Break 
ing  a  portion  of  his  army  from  the  right  of  his  line,  he 
marched  it  by  the  road  in  his  rear  and  placed  it  upon  his 
left,  keeping  the  remainder  always  in  line  ready  for 
attack.  In  that  masterly  way  he  worked  his  way  to 
Petersburg,  and  fought  his  way  from  there  to  Richmond. 
Elevated  by  his  fellow-citizens,  after  the  glorious  close 
of  the  war,  to  be  the  President  of  these  United  States, 
he  acquitted  himself  as  well  as  it  was  possible  un 
der  the  circumstances.  It  was  as  a  military  man  that 
General  Grant's  genius  is  most  acknowledged.  As  a 
business  man  he  was  evidently  not  a  success.  In  all 
other  walks  he  did  not  exhibit  the  genius  which  he  did 
in  military  affairs,  and  it  is  evident  to  my  mind,  from  the 
circumstances  which  took  place,  that  he  was  the  instru 
ment  raised  up  of  God  to  meet  the  emergency.  "When 
the  war  commenced  no  man  on  this  continent  had  seen  a 
hundred  thousand  men  under  arms.  The  wars  of  the 
Revolution  were  fought  with  a  handful  of  men;  battles 
were  won  in  Mexico  with  a  few  thousand  soldiers;  and 
to  place  a  man  at  the  head  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men,  as  was  done  at  the  outset  of  the  late  war,  would 
certainly  have  ended  in  disaster,  unless  he  was  raised  up 
and  had  the  training  for  it.  General  Grant  commanded 


ACTION    OF    THE    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  35 

a  company,  and  then  a  regiment,  and  passed  through 
various  degrees  of  promotion,  each  step  preparing  him  for 
the  next,  and  each  experience  preparing  him  for  the  entire 
charge  of  the  army.  And  well  did  he  do  it.  And  he  has 
shown  the  same  fortitude  in  his  sickness  that  he  did  in 
battle.  He  has  sternly  faced  the  foe,  and  he  has  fought 
the  good  fight  to  its  end.  His  career  is  now  over,  and 
we  can  say,  ^N"orth,  South,  East,  and  West,  with  no  bit 
terness,  with  no  animosity,  that  the  name  of  General 
Grant  will  live  as  long  as  history  records  an  illustrious 
name  upon  its  pages. 

The  resolutions  were  passed  in  concurrence  by  a  unanimous 
rising  vote. 

Messrs.  Osborne,  of  Ward  21  ;  Denney,  of  Ward  12 ;  and 
White,  of  Ward  17  were  joined  to  the  committee. 

The  order  for  the  display  of  flags,  tolling  of  bells,  etc.,  on 
the  day  of  General  Grant's  funeral  was  passed  in  concurrence. 

The  order  for  a  eulogy  was  passed  in  concurrence,  and 
Messrs.  Coe,1  of  Ward  23  ;  Emmons,  of  Ward  1  ;  Taylor,  of 
Ward  8  ;  Hersey,  of  Ward  21  ;  and  W.  H.  Murphy,  of  Ward 
3,  were  joined  to  the  committee. 

Adjourned  on  motion  of  Mr.  Rosnosky. 


1  Mr.  Whitcomb,  of  Ward  18,  was  subsequently  appointed  on  the  committee,  in 
place  of  Mr.  Coe,  who  resigned. 


MEETING    IN   FANEUIL   HALL. 


MEETING  INFANEUIL  HALL. 


In  accordance  with  the  expressed  desire  of  many  citizens 
a  public  meeting  was  called  in  Faneuil  Hall  for  Monday,  the 
twenty-seventh  of  July,  at  twelve  o'clock  noon.  At  the  appointed 
time  the  hall  was  well  filled  with  a  representative  gathering  of 
people  anxious  to  listen  to  words  of  eulogy  of  the  nation's  fore 
most  citizen. 

Among  those  on  the  platform  were  His  Excellency  Governor 
George  D.  Robinson,  His  Honor  Mayor  Hugh  O'Brien,  Judge 
Charles  Devens,  ex-Mayor  F.  O.  Prince,  Hon.  Henry  B.  Peirce, 
Secretary  of  State  ;  Hon.  F.  W.  Lincoln,  Solomon  B.  Stebbins, 
Edward  S.  Tobey,  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Dr.  II.  I.  Bowditch, 
Matthew  Bolles,  Bishop  Mallalieu.  The  meeting  was  opened 
with  remarks  by  the  Mayor,  who  spoke  as  follows  :  - 

OPENING   REMARKS    OF   HIS   HONOR  MAYOR   O'BRIEN. 

Surrounded  by  these  draperies  of  mourning,  the  occasion 
that  calls  us  together  is  solemn  and  impressive.  The 
great  soldier,  on  whose  strong  arm  we  relied  in  our  hour 
of  need,  has  at  last  been  conquered.  Death  claims  the 
victory,  and  we  bow  down  to  the  Supreme  Will. 

But  a  few  hours  after  the  telegram  announced  the 
death  of  General  Grant  the  City  Council  met  and  paid  a 
tribute  to  his  memory.  It  is  also  very  appropriate  to 


40  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

open  the  doors  of  Faneuil  Hall  and  invite  our  citizens 
generally  to  unite  in  honoring  the  illustrious  dead.  In 
this  historic  hall,  sacred  to  the  memory  of  Warren,  of 
Paul  Revere,  of  Sam.  Adams,  of  John  Hancock,  and  other 
revolutionary  spirits  who  laid  the  foundation  of  this  great 
nation,  it  is  but  right  that  we  should  do  all  we  can  to 
honor  the  name  and  memory  of  the  great  soldier,  who, 
in  his  day  and  generation,  did  more  than  any  other  man 
to  preserve  it. 

I  will  now  request  His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  the 
State  to  preside  on  this  occasion,  and  I  take  pleasure  in 
introducing  him. 

Thus  introduced,  the  Governor  came  forward  amid  applause. 
He  said  :  — 

I  take  the  liberty  to  call  upon  Bishop  "W.  F.  MALLALIEU, 
of  New  Orleans,  who  will  invoke  the  Divine  blessing. 

Bishop  MALLALIEU  offered  the  following  prayer :  — 

"Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  genera 
tions.  Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever 
Thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting  Thou  art  God."  But  we  are 
like  the  "grass  which  groweth  up;  in  the  evening  it  is  cut 
down  and  withereth ; "  and  yet  in  deepest  sorrow  we  turn 
to  Thee,  the  source  of  all  comfort;  in  darkest  hours 
we  look  to  Thee  for  light;  when  all  earthly  helps  and 
hopes  fail  we  trust  still  in  Thee,  since  each  child  of  Thine 
may  say,  "  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  Valley  of  the 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  41 

Shadow  of  Death  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with 
me.  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff  they  comfort  me."  O  God! 
we  walk  even  now  amid  the  shadows  of  death,  and  we 
call  upon  Thee  to  be  near  us  and  let  us  feel  Thy  presence 
and  Thy  love.  Thou  hast  visited  us  and  taken  from  us 
the  idol  of  our  hearts.  A  prince  and  a  mighty  man  has 
fallen.  The  faithful  husband,  the  loving  father,  the  stead 
fast  friend,  the  truest  patriot,  the  grandest  leader  of  men, 
the  ever  victorious  general,  the  most  magnanimous  con 
queror,  the  incomparable  statesman,  the  most  patient  of 
sufferers,  the  humble  Christian,  our  own  beloved  God- 
given  Grant  rests  from  his  trials  while  the  nation 
mourns  his  loss.  God  pity  us  and  have  compassion 
upon  us! 

We  thank  Thee,  our  heavenly  Father,  that  in  the  day 
of  trouble  Thou  didst  raise  up  this  man;  that  Thou  didst 
keep  him  amid  all  perils  and  didst  enable  him  to  preserve 
the  life  of  the  nation,  and  secure  for  all  its  people  the 
blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  "We  thank  Thee 
for  the  bright  example  he  has  left  to  us  and  to  future  gen 
erations,  of  courage,  perseverance,  heroism,  unselfish 
philanthropy  and  patriotism.  We  thank  Thee  that  at 
last  he  was  permitted  to  pass  away  in  peace  and  quietness, 
blessed  with  the  loving  ministries  of  wife  and  children 
and  friends,  and  comforted  by  the  warmest  sympathies 
and  prayers  of  all  the  people  of  this  land.  And  now,  O 
God !  we  most  humbly  pray  Thee  to  bestow  Thy  blessing 
upon  us  who  are  assembled  in  this  place  hallowed  by  im 
mortal  memories.  May  this  hour  be  one  of  lasting  profit 
to  all  our  souls.  As  we  think  of  him  whose  virtues  we 
commemorate  may  grace  be  given  us  to  emulate  all  that 


42  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

was  excellent  in  his  character  that  we  may  share  with  him 
the  Divine  approval. 

But  we  pray  Thee,  as  all  our  people,  North  and 
South  and  East  and  West,  shall  bow  in  solemn,  tearful 
silence  around  the  dead,  may  all  wrath  and  bitterness  be 
banished  from  all  hearts,  and  may  friendship,  unity,  and 
righteousness  everywhere  prevail  and  abound. 

We  tenderly  commend  to  Thee  the  deeply  afflicted 
family.  God  of  all  mercy  and  grace,  bless  the  widow,  be 
near  her  to  comfort  and  console,  to  soothe  and  strengthen, 
to  watch  over  her  in  all  the  future,  and  let  Thine  own 
infinite  love  be  her  abiding  portion.  Bless  the  children, 
and  in  all  the  years  to  come  may  they  share  in  the  richest 
gifts  of  Thine  own  bountiful  hand. 

O  God!  sanctify  to  the  good  of  our  own  nation  and 
rulers,  and  to  the  good  of  all  the  nations  and  rulers  of  the 
earth,  the  life  and  death,  the  example  and  influence  of  the 
departed.  Give  us  such  divine  help  that  we  may  live  in 
Thy  fear,  and  faithfully  perform  our  work,  and  then  bring 
us  to  the  rest  and  home  of  Thine  own  children,  for  the 
sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  Thine  only  Son,  our  Saviour;  to 
whom  Avith  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit  be  all  praise 
and  glory,  world  without  end.  Amen. 

ADDRESS    OF    HIS    EXCELLENCY    GOVERNOR    GEORGE 
D.    ROBINSON. 

The  sadness  of  the  event  which  touches  all  hearts 
brings  this  assemblage  together  to-day.  Everywhere 
throughout  the  land,  whether  in  the  crowded  city  or  in 
the  remote  cottage,  there  is  a  deep  feeling  of  sympathy 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  43 

and  personal  bereavement  because  one  who  was  dear  and 
great  and  true  has  gone  out  from  the  people  forever. 
My  lips  are  not  to  speak  his  eulogy  here,  nor  is  it  the 
duty  of  this  moment  to  attempt  to  make  a  just  and  fair 
and  comprehensive  estimate  of  his  work  and  life.  We 
pause  ere  the  grave  opens  to  receive  his  remains,  and 
with  bowed  heads  recognize  the  hand  of  the  great 
Providence  over  us;  proudly  cherishing  the  memory  of 
him  whom  we  loved  and  honored  and  trusted,  we  pause 
for  a  moment  amid  our  tears  and  our  sighs  to  express 
appreciation  of  his  life.  The  great  hero,  over  whose 
bed  of  pain  and  suffering1  for  many  months,  millions 
have  bent  day  after  day  in  tearful  sympathy  and 
prayerful  hope,  that  great  hero  was  none  the  less  one 
because  he  was  of  the  common  lot  of  humanity.  He 
was  a  man  born  under  no  circumstances  of  fortune 
but  found  in  the  call  of  the  country  to  duty,  a  sum 
mons  to  a  development  to  which  his  great  powers  and 
unflinching  fortitude  and  unmoved  calmness  never 
proved  unequal. 

The  story  of  his  rapid  advancement  from  the  unevent 
ful  life  of  a  private  citizen,  by  successive  victorious  steps 
in  campaign  after  campaign,  until  in  response  to  the 
universal  demands  of  the  people  he  became  the  great 
chieftain  of  the  greatest  armies  that  were  ever  marshalled, 
in  the  most  remarkable  conflict  of  the  world,  —  that  story 
is  wonderful  beyond  words  to  describe.  One  need  not 
recount  it  here;  the  facts  are  within  the  memory  and 
knowledge  of  the  great  body  of  our  people.  Again,  too, 
we  linger  not  to  speak  of  his  career  as  the  great  civil 
magistrate  of  this  republic;  we  point  not  to  the  leading 


44  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

acts  of  his  administration;  we  leave  to  history  that  shall 
be  written  in  the  coming  years  the  full  estimate  of  his 
great  life  in  the  field  and  in  the  presidential  chair.  But 
there  is  one  thought  that  to  me  demands  emphasis  at  this 
time,  and  out  of  it  comes  the  impression  that  is  so  firm  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  True,  his  opportunities  and 
success  as  a  military  leader  placed  him  before  the  people ; 
again  is  it  true  that  his  exalted  station  as  President  of  the 
United  States  moved  him  farther  forward  into  the  first 
rank  among  men;  but  I  dare  say  that  the  people  have  felt 
closer  to  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  had  a  deeper  sympathy 
with  him,  and  a  surer  trust  in  him,  not  because  of  his 
military  leadership  alone,  nor  of  his  services  as  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  but  because  he  was  first  and 
last  a  true  American  citizen. 

Stepping  from  citizenship  through  the  high  ranks  and 
places  of  power,  he  was  yet  man  enough  when  the  respon 
sibilities  could  be  laid  down,  to  put  aside  his  great  influ 
ence  and  control,  and  to  be  one  among  his  fellow-men. 
No  flattery  ever  unmanned  him;  110  honors,  however 
abundantly  they  were  bestowed,  at  home  or  abroad 
ever  corrupted  him;  no  attentions  ever  swerved  him 
from  the  constant,  prevailing  recognition  that  he  was 
an  American.  Indeed,  he  illustrated  through  all  his  life 
the  sure  and  perfect  type  of  the  strong,  intelligent,  loyal, 
fearless  man,  unspoiled  by  honors. 

More  demands  our  admiration  at  this  time.  No  one 
fails  to  see  his  great  power  as  a  man  among  men 
manifested  to  a  higher  degree  in  his  participation 
in  home  life.  He,  the  loving  and  true  husband,  the 
fond  father,  found  in  the  domestic  circle  the  greatest 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  45 

delights  of  his  life.  And  as  the  weeks  have  gone  in  our 
sadness  and  tears,  what  joy  has  come  up  as  we  have 
witnessed  the  fidelity  of  that  family  at  the  bedside  of 
our  dying  hero !  The  lesson  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  from  such  events  can  never  be  overestimated. 
The  great  Lincoln,  the  martyred  Garfield,  the  heroic 
Grant,  exalted  though  they  were,  honored  above  all  their 
fellows,  yet  they,  in  their  great  strength  of  human 
nature,  enjoyed  the  purity  and  wealth  of  that  home 
life  that  makes  our  institutions  safer  and  surer.  How 
happy,  indeed,  is  it  that  through  all  the  conflicts  and 
dangers  of  the  battle-field,  through  the  possibilities  of 
remote  travel  in  foreign  lands,  his  life  was  spared  that 
he  might  come  home  and  dwell  a  citizen  among  his 
fellows,  and  enjoy  to  the  full  the  fruits  of  his  great 
labors!  His  friends,  his  sympathizers,  were  not  alone 
of  those  who  fought  under  his  command,  but  from  the 
ranks  of  those  who  were  then  his  enemies  now  come  the 
cheerful  words  of  sympathy  and  tenderness,  and  all 
through  the  land  the  people  feel  their  own  hero  has 
yielded  to  death. 

In  very  truth  he  has  fought  his  fight;  he  has  finished 
his  course;  he  has  kept  the  faith.  The  spot  where  his 
body  shall  be  placed  will  be  indeed  and  forever  holy 
ground:  in  summer's  heat,  in  winter's  blast,  by  sun 
shine  or  storm,  millions  will  journey  there,  through 
all  the  coming  generations,  to  renew  their  devotion  and 
fealty  to  the  cause  of  human  brotherhood  and  freedom. 
~No  structure,  however  costly  or  imposing,  shall  ever  be 
his  fitting  memorial:  that  is  found  in  the  mighty  and 
abundant  recognition  of  his  fellow-men;  that  is  better 


46  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

built  and  stands  firmer  in  the  great  American  Union,  that 
was  saved  and  perpetuated  by  his  might  and  his  valor ; 
that  shall  rest  its  base  upon  every  inch  of  the  territory 
of  this  great  republic,  and  in  the  coming  time,  in  rec 
ognition  of  him  and  his  services,  it  shall  be  perpetuated 
by  a  happy  and  prosperous  and  free  people. 

The  Governor  next  introduced  ex-Mayor  F.  O.  PRINCE,  who 
offered  the  following  resolutions  :  — 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  citizens  of  Boston,  by  our  rep 
resentatives  in  Faneuil  Hall  assembled,  having  deeply 
sympathized  with  ex-President  Ulysses  S.  Grant  in  his 
long  and  severe  physical  suffering,  borne  with  manly  and 
characteristic  fortitude,  now  share  the  general  sorrow  of 
the  nation  in  his  decease. 

Resolved,  That  although  his  great  work  was  done,  and 
all  the  high  trusts  reposed  in  him  fully  and  faithfully 
executed,  so  as  to  entitle  him  to  rest  from  his  labors  in  the 
enjoyment  of  his  well-earned  fame,  we  unite  with  our 
countrymen  in  all  sections  of  the  republic  in  regarding 
the  loss  of  this  eminent  citizen  as  a  common  calamity 
which  fills  the  nation  with  mourning. 

Resolved,  That  the  great  military  services  of  this  illus 
trious  soldier  in  the  recent  war  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  which  so  largely  contributed  to  its  successful 
result,  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  of  the  country 
through  all  time.  That  his  great  martial  virtues,  his 
patriotism,  his  loyalty,  his  fortitude,  his  patience,  and  his 
valor,  so  constantly  displayed  in  the  memorable  contest, 
reflect  honor  on  the  American  character,  are  just  causes 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  47 

for  national  pride,  and  will  make  our  annals  forever  cele 
brated.  That  the  magnanimity  of  the  victor  upon  the 
submission  of  his  enemy;  his  constant  subordination  of 
military  to  civic  authority  when  the  objects  of  the  war 
had  been  accomplished;  his  unselfish  ambition;  his  respect 
for  the  law  of  the  country;  his  watchful  regard  for  the 
public  interests;  his  republican  simplicity  of  character 
and  life;  his  modest  bearing  in  the  highest  office  of  the 
government,  and,  when  receiving  in  both  hemispheres  the 
homage  accorded  to  distinguished  merit  and  illustrious 
public  service,  not  only  make  his  memory  dear  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  but  give  him  a  place  with  Washing 
ton  and  Lincoln  in  the  national  pantheon.  That,  as  the 
centuries  advance,  history  will  keep  his  glorious  record 
before  each  succeeding  generation,  and  rehearse  his  patri 
otic  career  for  the  emulation  of  our  youth,  who  are  the 
hope  of  the  country,  and  upon  whom  it  must  rely  for 
defence  in  the  hour  of  danger. 

Resolved,  That  we  condole  with  the  bereaved  family  of 
our  dead  hero,  and  indulge  the  hope  that  when  the  pain 
from  the  loss  of  one  no  less  distinguished  for  domestic 
than  for  public  virtues  shall  be  soothed  by  time,  they 
will  find  consolation  and  comfort  in  the  recollection  of 
the  great  benefits  he  has  conferred  upon  the  country, 
and  in  the  consciousness  of  the  grateful  affection  which 
hallows  his  memory  in  the  popular  heart. 

SPEECH    OF    EX-MAYOR    FREDERICK    O.    PRINCE. 

Mr.  CHAIKMAN,  —  In  presenting  these  resolutions,  and 
asking  their  adoption  by  this  meeting,  permit  me  to  say 


48  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

that  I  feel  deeply  the  solemnity  of  this  occasion.  After 
months  of  intense  physical  suffering,  the  great  soldier, 
who  had  seen  so  many  of  his  heroic  companions  in  arms 
give  their  lives  on  the  battle-field  in  defence  of  the  na 
tional  flag,  has  at  last  himself  surrendered  to  that  foe  who, 
sooner  or  later,  ever  conquers.  Never  before  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country  -- 1  might  say  of  any  country —  have 
the  illness  and  death  of  any  man,  however  distinguished, 
elicited  such  general  and  affectionate  sympathy  as  has 
been  everywhere  expressed  for  this  illustrious  citizen. 
We  should  be  thankful  that  he  was  permitted  to  live  long 
enough  to  know  something  of  this.  In  a  letter  written 
shortly  before  his  death  he  says :  "  It  has  been  an  inesti 
mable  blessing  to  me  to  hear  the  kind  expressions  toward 
me  in  person  from  people  of  all  nationalities,  of  all  relig 
ions  and  of  no  religion,  of  Confederate  and  national 
troops  alike,  of  soldier  organizations,  of  mechanical, 
scientific,  religious,  and  other  societies,  embracing  almost 
every  citizen  in  the  land.  They  have  brought  joy  to  my 
heart,  if  they  have  not  effected  a  cure."  We  all  know 
how  genuine  all  this  kindly  feeling  is. 

"When  we  remember  the  perils  which  threatened  the 
very  existence  of  the  country  during  the  civil  war,  the 
vast  armies  which  were  arrayed  against  it,  the  great 
extent  of  territory  over  which  the  war  was  waged,  the 
difficulties  which  impeded  the  government,  and  all  the 
magnitude  of  the  contest,  we  can  appreciate  the  services 
of  him  who  may  be  said  to  have  organized  victory,  and  to 
have  been  the  most  important  factor  in  bringing  the  war 
to  a  successful  conclusion.  When  such  a  benefactor  dies, 
gratitude  and  grief  naturally  call  together  those  who  have 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  49 

been  benefited  for  condolence.  The  desire  for  that  relief 
which  comes  from  the  interchange  of  sympathy  in  afflic 
tion  is  almost  irresistible.  Therefore  it  is  that  the  citi 
zens  of  Boston,  always  loyal  to  the  Constitution,  which 
makes  ns  one  people,  and  to  the  Union,  which  is  the  pal 
ladium  of  our  free  institutions,  have  here  assembled  to 
express  their  sense  of  the  great  loss  which  the  nation  has 
sustained  and  their  condolence  with  their  countrymen  in 
every  section  of  the  land  under  this  great  bereavement. 
It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  he  of  the  brave  spirit  and  in 
domitable  will,  the  intrepid  victor  of  so  many  battles,  has 
passed  away,  that  the  place  which  once  knew  him  will 
know  him  no  more  forever.  But  he  te  not  dead.  He  is 


"Of  the  few,  the  immortal  few, 
Who  were  not  born  to  die." 


He  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and  there  he 
will  continue  to  live  as  long  as  the  love  of  country  and  of 
the  Union  shall  animate  our  people.  The  conqueror 
rarely  gets  the  good  will  of  the  conquered.  Yet  General 
Grant  not  only  subdued  the  hosts,  but  the  hearts,  of  his 
foes,  for  the  South  has  shown  as  much  sympathy  for  the 
suffering  and  dying  hero  as  the  North.  But  it  could  not 
be  otherwise  with  his  brave  opponents.  They  knew  his 
nature.  They  knew  all  the  qualities  of  his  great  heart. 
They  knew  that  he  drew  his  sword  at  the  command  of 
duty  and  patriotism  to  preserve  the  Union,  and  not  for 
their  oppression;  and,  when  this  object  was  obtained,  that 
there  were  no  vindictive  memories  and  no  vindictive 
action;  that  the  great  General  was  the  friend  of  all,  South 


50  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

as  well  as  Korth,  who  obeyed  the  laws  and  respected  the 
flag. 

We  are  too  near  the  scenes  of  the  mighty  contest  to 
appreciate  fully  its  causes  and  all  the  motives  of  the 
actors  therein.  Perhaps  it  is  best  that  we  should  not 
have  too  much  of  the  evil  knowledge,  for  the  history  of 
civil  strife  is  ever  painful,  and  much  of  it  should  be  al 
lowed  to  perish.  But  while  we  consign  to  oblivion  many 
of  the  dreadful  memories  of  that  fraternal  war,  a  grateful 
country  will  permit  no  forgetfulncss  of  Grant.  It  will 
ever  cherish  his  fame  as  one  of  its  most  valued  posses 
sions,  so  that  it  will  not  fade,  but  grow  with  time. 
Already,  by  common  consent,  he  has  been  accorded  a 
place  with  the  immortal  ones,  who  in  their  day  and  gen 
eration  have  benefited  their  country  and  man. 

The  Hon.  CHARLES  DEVENS  was  next  introduced  and  warmly 
applauded.  He  spoke  :is  follows  :  — 

ADDRESS  OF  GENERAL  DEVENS. 

YOUR  EXCELLENCY,  FELLOW-CITIZENS,  —  A  nation 
has  watched  by  the  dying  couch  of  its  greatest  citizen ; 
the  leader  of  its  armies  in  battle,  the  head  of  its  civil 
government  in  peace.  Anxiety,  hope,  and  fear  have  con 
tended,  until  at  last  it  became  certain  that  human  efforts 
were  in  vain  and  that  he  who  had  been  its  tower  of 
strength  in  the  hour  of  a  people's  agony  was  to  pass  from 
among  living  men.  Well  may  a  nation  swell  the  funeral 
cry  for  him  whose  strong  hand  and  daring  heart  secured 
and  protected  its  life. 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  51 

As  he  has  waited  in  the  august  majesty  of  impending 
death  there  have  seemed  to  gather  around  him  the  tender 
memories  of  all  who  offered  their  lives  for  country  in  our 
great  civil  strife.  The  crowds  that  collected  about  his 
house  in  the  great  city,  when  some  two  or  three  months 
ago  his  death  seemed  immediate,  were  not  mere  curiosity- 
seekers, —  there  were  fathers  and  brothers;  there  were 
mothers  that  had  given  their  sons;  there  were  girls, 
elderly  women  now,  who  had  given  up  their  lovers. 
To  me  these  groups  seemed  infinitely  affecting,  for  they 
wTere  those  who  in  that  straggle  had  parted  forever  from 
their  best  and  bravest.  To  the  great  chieftain  who  had 
led  them  through  so  many  a  hot  and  bloody  day  they 
brought  the  mute  offering  of  their  reverence  and  love, 
for  it  was  to  him  they  owed  that  those  noble  lives  had 
not  been  sacrificed  in  vain.  As  he  was  the  chieftain  so 
he  was  the  representative  of  the  Federal  army;  that  army 
which,  springing  from  the  people  itself,  vindicated  the  in 
tegrity  of  the  American  Union,  swept  from  its  States  the 
curse  of  slavery  and  lifted  a  nation  to  a  higher  and  nobler 
life.  Long  since  that  great  army  has  passed  away,  yet  it 
shall  not  be  forgotten  that  in  its  day  and  generation  and 
in  its  time  and  place  it  did  for  this  country  deeds  worthy 
of  immortal  honor.  It  is  twenty-four  years  since  the 
great  battle  summer  of  1861.  To  each  of  us  they  have 
brought  joy  and  sorrow  in  their  mingled  web,  but  we  turn 
back  to  that  time  freshly  still  as  the  tolling  bell  and  the 
muffed  drum  announce  that  Grant  has  sunk  to  his  final 
repose. 

"Ne'er  to  the  chambers  where  the  mighty  rest 
Since  their  foundation  came  a  nobler  guest." 


52  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

To-day  is  not  one  for  criticism  even  if  it  be  candid,  and 
not  unkindly.  Our  sense  of  loss  is  too  acute,  our  emo 
tions  are  too  keen.  Nor  perhaps  at  any  time  could  those 
of  us  who  have  followed  him,  who  have  known  what  it 
was  to  lean  upon  that  determined  will,  who  have  seen  him 
with  the  light  of  battle  on  his  cheek,  assume  ever  to  speak 
of  him  with  the  cold  neutrality  of  impartial  history.  If 
to  that  great  tribunal  all  must  come  we  are  not  competent 
to  sit  thereon  as  judges.  Some  future  historian,  some 
Parkman,  some  Bancroft,  shall  compare  him  with  the 
great  captains  of  antiquity  or  of  modern  history,  shall 
weigh  in  nice  scales  his  successes  or  his  failures,  the 
means  at  his  command,  the  purposes  he  had  in  view,  the 
results  he  finally  accomplished,  and  shall  then  assign  him 
his  appropriate  place.  High  although  it  must  be,  for  this 
I  shall  care  little,  for  his  name  is  written  indelibly  upon  a 
nobler  list.  His  place  is  not  with  the  Ca3sars  and  the 
Hannibals,  the  Fredericks  or  Napoleons,  and  the  conquer 
ors  of  earth  who  have  waded  to  fame  or  empire  through 
blood  and  carnage,  but  with  those  who  in  the  hour  of 
danger  and  distress  have  borne  upon  their  shoulders  the 
weight  of  mighty  States,  who  have  preferred  patriotism, 
duty,  and  honor  to  any  selfish  aggrandizement,  who  have 
drawn  the  sword  reluctantly,  who  have  sheathed  it  will 
ingly  when  the  time  for  reconciliation  had  come,  and  at 
the  head  of  whom  stands  peerless  and  immortal  our  own 
Washington.  His  fame,  like  that  of  Washington,  ishall 
form  forever  one  of  the  brightest  jewels  in  the  radiant 
crown  of  the  Republic.  It  shall  broaden  and  widen  as 
her  domains  shall  spread,  as  her  vast  and  fertile  wastes 
shall  be  peopled,  and  as  great  cities  shall  rise  where  to- 


.MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  53 

day  only  the  hum  of  the  wild  bee  breaks  the  stillness  of 
the  fragrant  air.  Yet  to  no  generation  of  men  can  he  be 
all  that  he  has  been  to  us.  Already  to  many  almost  ap 
proaching  middle  life  his  achievements  are  but  historical. 
But  in  us,  who  were  of  his  time,  there  is  a  personal  love 
and  veneration  toward  him  which  cannot  be  communi 
cated  to  others.  All  around  him  throughout  the  broad 
land  there  stretches  the  wide  circle  of  those  who  perhaps 
never  looked  upon  his  bodily  presence,  that  feel  his  loss 
as  a  personal  grief.  He  has  so  inwrought  himself  with 
their  just  and  patriotic  feeling  in  the  years  that  are  past, 
that  to  them  the  earth  itself  seems  less  fair,  this  gor 
geous,  glowing  summer  less  bright,  now  that  he  is  gone. 
"Willingly  would  I  speak  some  words  that  shall  tell  the 
love  we  have  borne  him,  the  honor  in  which  we  hold  his 
great  deeds,  the  gratitude  we  have  for  all  he  has  so 
splendidly  done,  but  I  realize  how  poor  my  utterance  is. 

The  mean  and  sordid  pecuniary  cares  that  vexed  his 
closing  years  of  life  but  showed  how  truly  resolute  and 
upright  he  was.  In  selecting  men  in  military  life  in 
whom  to  repose  confidence,  his  view  was  singularly 
correct  and  just;  it  might  be  said  to  be  perfect.  He  was 
a  soldier  to  the  inmost  core;  he  knew  everything  that  he 
needed  then  and  made  no  mistakes.  His  education  and 
studies  had  not  fitted  him  with  the  same  judgment  in  civil 
life.  It  was  an  error  of  a  trustful,  generous  nature  that 
led  him  to  stand  by  those  in  whom  he  had  once  reposed 
confidence,  even  after  there  was  legitimate  reason  for  dis 
trust.  He  gave  generously  and  withdrew  reluctantly, 
and  thus  as  a  civilian  he  was  more  than  once  grievously 
abused  in  official  life.  That  he  should  show  the  same 


54  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GEANT. 

disposition  in  dealing  with  his  private  and  personal  affairs 
might  have  been  anticipated.  But  it  was  an  error  which 
most  grievously  he  Avas  compelled  to  answer. 

Betrayed  by  cunning,  intriguing  knaves,  when  financial 
ruin  came  he  met  it  with  the  old  calm  resolution.  He  was 
ready  at  once  to  strip  himself  of  all  he  possessed,  even  of 
the  very  gifts  which  were  the  just  memorials  of  his 
fame,  that  he  might  satisfy  those  who  had  trusted  in  him. 
Financial  and  commercial  honor  were  as  dear  to  him  as 
any  other  honor.  Calmly  and  resolutely  he  devoted  him 
self  to  those  unaccustomed  labors  by  which  he  hoped 
to  provide  for  those  he  was  to  leave  behind  him,  and 
although  racking  pains  always  assailed  him,  although  the 
weary  brain  and  the  once  strong  hand  from  time  to  time 
refused  their  office,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  what  he  had  undertaken  he  had  accomplished.  Rec 
ognition  of  his  great  services,  even  if  somewhat  tardily, 
came  in  his  restoration  to  that  position  in  the  army  which 
he  had  resigned  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  the  country, 
and  it  was  a  profound  gratification  to  him  to  feel,  ere  he 
passed  away,  that  the  pecuniary  future  of  his  family 
would  be  provided  for.  Let  them  believe  that  the  tender- 
est  love  of  a  grateful  people  will  encompass  them  always. 

It  is  twenty  years  since  the  only  name  worthy  to  be 
mentioned  with  that  of  General  Grant  has  passed  into 
history.  It  seems  like  a  caprice  of  fortune  that  while  the 
great  soldier  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  went  almost 
unscathed  through  an  hundred  fights,  its  great  statesman 
should  die  by  the  assassin's  hand.  As  to  the  great 
Hebrew  chieftain  who  had  led  Israel  through  the  Red  Sea 
and  the  desert,  it  was  ordained  that  he  should  but  look  on 


MEETING  IN  FANEUIL  HALL.  55 

the  promised  land,  so  to  Abraham  Lincoln  it  was  given 
but  to.  know  that  the  Union  was  restored,  that  his  life's 
work  was  done,  and  to  die  in  the  hour  of  final  triumph. 
Between  these  great  men  from  the  day  they  met,  and 
they  had  never  seen  each  other's  faces  until  after  nearly 
three  years  of  war,  until  the  day  Mr.  'Lincoln  died,  there 
had  been  the  most  generous  confidence,  the  most  trustful 
regard,  the  most  firm  faith  that  each  had  done  in  the  past 
and  would  do  in  the  future  the  utmost  possible  to  sustain 
the  other. 

How  like  a  wondrous  romance  it  reads,  that  in  that 
time  Of  less  than  three  years,  from  a  simple  captain,  whose 
offer  of  his  services  to  the  War  Department  was  thought 
of  so  little  consequence  that  the  letter,  although  since 
carefully  searched  for,  cannot  be  found,  Grant  had 
risen  from  rank  to  rank,  until  he  became  the  Lieutenant- 
General  who  was  to  unite  all  the  military  springs  of 
action  in  a  single  hand,  to  govern  them  by  a  single 
will ;  to  see,  to  use  his  own  expression,  that  the  armies 
of  the  Union  pulled  no  longer  "  like  a  balky  team,"  but 
were  moved  and  animated  by  a  single  purpose!  Yet  his 
way  had  not  been  one  of  uninterrupted  success,  and  there 
had  been  no  success  that  had  not  been  won  by  his  own 
wisdom  and  courage.  He  had  seized  and  controlled  the 
Ohio  and  held  Kentucky  in  the  Union ;  he  had  opened  the 
Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland  by  the  victories  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson;  but  the  much  misunderstood  battle 
of  Shiloh  had  reduced  him,  uncomplainingly  always,  to  a 
subordinate  command  under  General  Halleck,  whose  own 
failure  at  Corinth  finally  gave  to  him  the  command 
of  all  forces  operating  to  open  the  Mississippi.  Again 


56  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

and  again  during  the  often  repeated  repulses  from  Vicks- 
burg,  there  had  been  attempts  to  remove  him,  mainly  at 
the  instance  of  those  who  did  not  comprehend  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  problem  with  which  he  had  to  deal.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  stood  by  him,  saying  in  his  peculiar  way,  "  I 
rather  like  that  man.  I  guess  I  will  try  him  a  little 
longer,"  until  at  last  Vicksburg  was  taken  by  a  movement 
marked  with  the  audacity  of  a  master  in  the  art  of  war, 
who  dares  to  violate  established  rules  and  make  excep 
tions,  when  great  emergencies  demand  that  great  risks 
shall  be  run.  The  4th  of  July,  1863,  was  the  proudest 
day  the  armies  of  the  Union  up  to  that  time  had  ever 
known,  for  the  thunders  of  the  cannon  that  announced  in 
the  East  the  great  victory  of  Gettysburg  were  answered 
from  the  West  by  those  that  told  that  the  Mississippi  in 
all  its  mighty  length  ran  un vexed  to  the  sea. 

His  victory  at  Chattanooga  followed  the  placing  of  the 
armies  of  the  AVest  under  his  sole  control,  and  the  time 
had  come  when  he  was  to  direct  the  armies  of  the  whole 
Union.  His  place  was  thereafter  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  as  the  most  decisive  point  of  struggle,  although 
its  immediate  command  remained  with  General  Meade.  It 
was  only  thus  and  through  its  vicinity  to  the  capital  that 
he  could  direct  every  military  operation.  As  he  entered 
upon  the  great  campaign  of  1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "  If 
there  is  anything  wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to 
give,  do  not  fail  to  let  me  know  it.  And  now  with  a 
brave  army  and  a  just  cause  may  God  sustain  you." 
And  General  Grant  had  answered,  "  Should  my  success 
be  less  than  I  desire  or  expect,  the  least  I  can  say  is  the 
fault  is  not  with  you." 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  57 

Side  by  side  they  stood  together  thus  through  all  the 
desperate  days  that  ensued,  until  in  April,  1865,  the 
terrific  and  protracted  struggle  was  ended  between  the 
two  great  armies  of  the  East;  the  long-tried,  always 
faithful  Army  of  the  Potomac  held  its  great  rival,  the 
Army  of  North  Virginia,  in  the  iron  embrace  of  its 
gleaming  wall  of  bayonets,  and  the  sword  of  Lee  was 
laid,  figuratively  at  least,  in  the  conquering  hand  of 
Grant.  Side  by  side  Lincoln  and  Grant  will  stand  for 
ever  in  the  pantheon  of  history,  and  somewhere  in  the 
eternal  plan  we  would  willingly  believe  those  great 
spirits  shall  yet  guard  and  shield  the  land  they  loved  and 
served  so  well. 

Whatever  General  Grant's  errors  or  his  weaknesses, — 
and  he  was  mortal,  —  like  the  spots  on  the  sun  they  but 
show  the  brightness  of  the  surrounding  surface,  and  we 
readily  forget  them  as  we  remember  the  vast  debt  we 
owe.  Whether  without  him  we  could  have  achieved 
success,  it  is  certain  that  only  through  him  wre  did 
achieve  success.  He  was  thoroughly  patriotic,  and  his 
patriotism  sprang  from  his  faith  in  the  American  Union. 
He  had  been  educated  to  the  service  of  the  government; 
he  had  looked  to  this  rather  than  to  the  parties  that  exist 
under  it,  whose  zeal  sometimes  leads  men  to  forget  that 
there  can  be  no  party  success  worth  having  that  is  not 
for  the  benefit  of  all.  His  political  affiliations  were  slight 
enough,  perhaps,  but  they  had  not  been  with  the  party 
that  elected  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  knew  well,  however,  that 
this  frame  of  government  once  destroyed  could  never  be 
reconstructed.  He  had  no  faith  in  any  theory  which 
made  the  United  States  powerless  to  protect  itself.  He 


58  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

comprehended  fully  the  real  reason  why  the  slave  States, 
dissatisfied  with  just  and  necessary  restraint,  sought  to 
extricate  themselves  from  the  Union;  and  he  knew  that  a 
war  commencing  for  its  integrity,  would  broaden  and 
widen  until  it  became  one  for  the  liberty  of  all  men,  and 
there  was  neither  master  nor  slave  in  the  land. 

His  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  lately  published, 
although  written  during  the  first  week  of  the  war ; 
his  written  remark  to  General  Buckiier  in  their 
interesting  interview  just  before  he  died,  "  that  the  war 
had  been  worth  all  that  it  had  cost,"  show  how  strongly 
he  felt  that,  purified  by  the  fires  of  the  rebellion,  the 
Union  had  risen  grand  and  more  august  among  nations. 
Who  shall  say  he  was  not  right?  Who  shall  say  that  if 
all  the  noble  lives  so  freely  offered  could  be  restored,  but 
with  them  must  return  the  once  discordant  Union  with 
its  system  of  slavery,  they  who  gave  would  consent  to 
have  them  purchased  at  such  a  price? 

General  Grant  was  not  of  those  who  supposed  that 
the  conflict  with  the  South  was  to  be  any  summer's  day 
campaign;  he  knew  the  position  of  the  South,  its  re 
sources,  its  military  capacity,  and  the  fact  that  acting 
on  ths  defensive  it  would  move  its  armies  on  interior 
lines.  He  recognized  the  difficulty  in  dealing  with  so 
vast  an  extent  of  territory,  and  that  in  a  war  with  a 
hostile  people,  rather  than  a  hostile  army  only,  we  could 
often  hold  but  the  tracts  of  territory  immediately  under 
our  camp-fires.  Yet  he  never  doubted  of  ultimate 
success.  He  never  believed  that  this  country  was  to 
be  rent  asunder  by  faction  or  dragged  to  its  doom  by 
traitors.  He  said  to  General  Badeau  once,  who  had 


MEETING    IN    FANEUIL    HALL.  59 

asked  him  if  the  prospect  never  appalled  him,  that  he 
had  always  felt  perfectly  certain  of  success.  Thus 
though  to  him  many  days  were  dark  and  disastrous, 
none  were  despondent.  ?  The  simple  faith  in  success 
you  have  always  manifested,"  said  Sherman  to  him, 
"I  can  liken  to  nothing  else  than  the  faith  a  Christian 
has  in  the  Saviour."  His  remarkable  persistence  has 
caused  him  sometimes  to  be  looked  on  as  a  mere  dogged 
fighter.  ^o  suggestion  could  be  more  preposterous. 
He  felt  sure  of  his  plan  before  he  commenced,  then 
temporary  obstructions  and  difficulties  did  not  dismay 
him,  and  whatever  were  the  checks  he  wrent  on  with 
resolution  to  the  end. 

If  stern  and  unyielding  in  the  hour  of  conflict,  in  the 
hour  of  victory  no  man  was  ever  more  generous  and 
magnanimous.  He  felt  always  that  those  with  whom 
we  warred  were  our  erring  countrymen,  and  that,  when 
they  submitted  to  the  inevitable  changes  that  war  had 
made,  strife  was  at  an  end.  But  he  never  proposed  to 
yield  or  tamper  with  what  had  been  won  for  liberty  and 
humanity  in  that  strife. 

He  has  passed  beyond  our  mortal  sight,  sustained  and 
soothed  by  the  devotion  of  friends  and  comrades,  by  the 
love  of  a  people,  by  the  affectionate  respect  and  regard 
of  many  once  in  arms  against  him.  In  that  home  where 
he  was  almost  worshipped,  he  has  wrapped  "  the  drapery 
of  his  couch  about  him "  as  one  that  lies  down  to 
pleasant  dreams.  Front  to  front  on  many  a  field  he 
had  met  the  grim  destroyer,  where  the  death-dealing 
missiles  rained  thick  and  fast  from  the  rattling  rifles  and 
the  crashing  cannon.  He  neither  quailed  nor  blanched, 


60  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

although  death  came  at  last  with  a  summons  that  could 
not  be  denied,  when  all  that  makes  life  dear  was  around 
him.  He  could  not  but  know  he  was  to  live  still  in 
memory  as  long  as  the  great  flag  around  which  his 
fighting  legions  rallied  should  wave  above  a  united 
people.  To  most  men  the  call  of  death  is  terrible  — 

"But  to  the  hero  when  his  sword  has  won 

The  battle  of  the  free, 
That  voice  sounds  like  a  prophet's  word, 
And  in  its  hollow  tones  are  heard 

The  thanks  of  millions  yet  to  be." 

When  Judge  Devens,  whose  words  had  been  frequently  and 
warmly  applauded,  had  ceased  speaking,  Governor  ROBINSON 
said :  — 

The  resolutions  that  have  been  oifered  are  before  you 
for  your  action.  In  the  absence  of  objections  they 
will  be  considered  adopted  unanimously.  The  chair  so 
declares.  The  exercises  will  be  closed  with  the  bene 
diction  by  the  Rev.  S.  L.  Gracey. 

Mr.    GKACEY   said:  — 

May  the  peace  of  God  and  the  consolation  of  the  Great 
Comforter  abide  with  the  bereaved  family  of  our  great 
commander.  May  the  grace  of  God  be  in  our  hearts, 
leading  us  to  a  nobler  and  truer  and  better  manhood, 
a  more  intense  patriotism,  and  may  the  power  and 
blessing  that  keep  in  peace  and  give  not  sorrow  abide 
all  over  our  broad  land,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

The  audience  then  dispersed. 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES. 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES. 


The  Special  Committee  of  the  City  Council  appointed  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  memorial  services  extended  an  invitation  to 

o 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER,  to  pronounce  the  eulogy,  and  the  invita 
tion  was  accepted,  and  the  twenty-second  of  October  was  selected 
as  the  day  upon  which  the  services  should  be  held. 

The  Tremont  Temple  Association  tendered  to  the  city  the 
free  use  of  their  hall  for  the  occasion,  and  their  offer  was 
accepted. 

Among  those  officially  invited  by  the  committee,  in  behalf  of 
the  City  Council,  were  the  following :  His  Excellency  the  Gov 
ernor  and  the  members  of  his  staff;  the  Executive  Council;  the 
Heads  of  State  Departments ;  United  States  civil  officers  in  Bos 
ton  ;  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  and  Superior  courts  ;  Ex-Mayors 
of  Boston  ;  city  officials  and  representatives  of  the  Press. 

Tickets  of  admission  were  issued  on  account  of  the  general 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  attend  the  services,  and  at  the 
appointed  time  the  hall  was  completely  filled. 

A  large  and  life-like  portrait  of  General  Grant,  painted  by 
II.  W.  Berthrong  and  tastefully  draped,  hung  in  front  of  the 
organ. 

At  three  o'clock  the  services  commenced  with  a  voluntary  on 
the  organ  by  Mr.  Howard  M.  Dow ;  next  followed  Chopin's 
"Marche  Funebre,"  performed  by  the  orchestra  and  organ,  the 
former  being  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  T.  M.  Carter. 


64  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Alderman  PATRICK  J.  DONOVAN,  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements,  then  introduced  Mayor  O'BRIEN,  and  said  :  — 

LADIES  ATSTD  GENTLEMEN,  —  The  committee  having 
charge  of  these  memorial  services  to-day  have  requested 
His  Honor  the  Mayor  to  preside  on  this  occasion.  He 
has  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  committee,  and  I  there 
fore  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  as  the  pre 
siding  officer  His  Honor  Mayor  Hugh  O'Brien. 

The  Mayor  asked  the  attention  of  the  assembly  while  prayer 
was  offered  by  Eev.  B.  F.  HAMILTON  :  — 

PRAYER. 

Let  us  pray.  O  Lord,  Thou  art  God,  and  beside 
Thee  there  is  none  else.  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and 
Thine  the  power,  and  Thine  the  glory.  Thou  art  the 
King  among  the  nations.  What  is  man,  that  Thou  art 
mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him? 
Verily  Thou  hast  created  him  but  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor,  and 
put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet. 

It  becorneth  us,  in  whatever  station  we  occupy  in  life, 
whether  the  highest  or  lowest,  to  bow  reverently  before 
Thee,  and  to  cry,  "  Be  Thou  exalted,  O  God,  above  the 
heavens,  and  let  Thy  glory  appear  above  the  earth." 

Called  into  Thy  presence  by  the  peculiar  ordering  of 
Thy  Providence,  we  invoke  the  guidance  of  Thy  Spirit  in 
all  that  shall  be  said,  and  in  all  that  shall  be  done.  Sit 
ting  in  the  shadow  of  a  great  national  sorrow,  who  shall 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES.  65 

comfort,  who  shall  direct,  who  shall  help,  but  the  God  of 
heaven  and  earth. 

We  bless  Thee  for  the  renewed  confidence  we  have 
that  Thou  hast  set  apart  him  that  is  holy  for  Thyself. 
We  thank  Thee  again  that  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon 
the  faithful  in  the  earth,  that  they  may  dwell  with  Him. 
As  we  offer  our  prayers  and  supplications  unto  Thee, 
may  our  prayers  come  before  Thee  as  incense,  and  the 
lifting  up  of  our  hands  as  the  evening  sacrifice;  and,  as 
we  think  of  the  great  life  that  has  been  led  *n  our  midst 
and  in  this  land,  may  the  Spirit  of  God  come  to  us,  to 
seal  to  our  hearts  the  lessons  that  shall  be  drawn  there 
from.  May  he  who  shall  speak  unto  us  be  inspired  by 
Thy  Spirit,  and  be  directed  by  Thee  in  the  words  that  he 
shall  utter  before  us. 

We  thank  Thee  that  there  is  such  a  character  arising, 
.appearing,  going  before,  and  passing  on  before  our  eyes. 
We  thank  Thee  for  its  humble  beginning.  We  thank 
Thee  for  its  faithful  continuance.  We  thank  Thee  for  its 
glorious  and  triumphant  death.  We  bless  Thee  for  that 
peculiar  exhibition  of  charity  which  suffereth  long  and  is 
kind,  which  vaunteth  not,  and  does  not  behave  itself 
unseemly.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  pure  heart  which 
revolted  so  strongly  against  anything  unjust  and  un 
seemly  and  ungodly.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  reverent 
spirit  which  never  suffered  a  profane  oath  to  pass  from 
lips  that  knew  no  guile,  and  which  bowed  the  head  in 
honor  to  worship  before  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  sweet,  social  life,  that 
made  home  a  sanctuary,  and  that  carried  its  influence  into 
the  abode  of  kings,  and  into  the  council-chambers  of  the 


66  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

rulers  in  the  land.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  close  friend 
ship  which  brought  friends  to  his  heart,  and  bound  them 
there  like  the  heart  of  David  to  the  heart  of  Jonathan. 
We  thank  Thee  especially  for  that  high  moral  courage 
which  never  quailed  in  the  presence  of  danger,  and  which 
prompted  this  true  man  to  go  forth  in  the  ways  of  duty 
until  his  duty  was  accomplished,  although  it  be  to  the 
vanquishing  of  those  that  rose  up  against  the  land,  and 
that  then  brought  him  to  reach  down  and  lift  up  the 
fallen  foe,  and  place  him  upon  the  level  with  himself. 
We  thank  Thee  for  all  that  he  did  to  bring  peace  in  our 
land. 

But  we  thank  Thee  especially  for  that  strong  faith 
which  took  hold  upon  that  heart,  which  grasped  the 
promises  of  God,  and  which  enabled  him  to  face  the  last 
enemy  and  go  down  to  the  dark  valley  fearing  no  evil, 
because  Thou  wast  with  him. 

Blessed  by  Thy  Name,  O  God,  that  there  is  so  much  in 
this  character  that  disease  cannot  touch,  that  death  can 
not  destroy.  Again  we  have  to  cry,  "O  Death,  where  is 
thy  sting?  O  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory? 

And  now  we  bow  reverently  before  Thee,  O  God,  that 
Thou  mayst  teach  us  the  lessons  that  have  been  wrought 
out  in  this  life,  and  inspire  us  with  those  principles  of 
moral  courage,  true  honesty,  and  devotion  to  truth,  which 
are  so  conspicuously  manifested  in  this  exalted  life. 
Bless  each  one  of  us  now  before  Thee.  Bless  the  officers 
of  the  government  of  the  city  of  our  habitation,  and  give 
them  wisdom  and  discretion  and  all  needed  grace  to  dis 
charge  their  responsible  duties  in  Thy  fear  and  to  Thy 
praise. 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES.  67 

Bless,  we  pray  Thee,  the  State  of  our  habitation;  the 
goodly  Commonwealth,  which  we  call  the  State,  where 
we  dwell,  and  where  we  delight  to  express  our  devotion 
to  the  free  institutions  which  our  fathers  planted  here. 
Bless  our  land  and  bless  the  rulers  thereof;  may  our  offi 
cers  continue  to  be  peace  and  our  exactors  righteousness. 

Remember  us  all  in  mercy,  and  let  us  feel  that  it  is  not 
for  those  that  are  far  away  to  exhibit  faith  and  devotion; 
that  it  is  not  simply  for  those  who  have  occupied  con 
spicuous  positions  in  the  past  to  manifest  these  high  vir 
tues.  Let  us  all  remember  that  in  the  conflicts  that  are 
now  before  us,  the  conflicts  between  right  and  wrong, 
between  good  and  evil,  between  truth  and  error,  it  is  for 
us  to  endure  hardships,  as  good  soldiers,  and  fight  man 
fully  the  fight  of  faith.  Help  us  all  to  do  this,  remember 
ing  that  Thou  hast  promised,  "Be  thou  faithful  unto 
death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 

All  these  favors  we  ask  in  the  name  of  Him  who  was 
dead  and  is  alive  forevermore ;  to  Whom,  with  the  Father 
and  with  the  Spirit,  be  praise  everlasting.  Amen. 

A  portion  of  the  following  ode,  composed  for.  the  occasion  by 
Mrs.  JULIA  WARD  HOWE,  was  then  sung  by  a  select  choir  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen.  The  music  was  from  Mozart's  "Magic  Flute," 
and  the  solos  were  sung  bv  Miss  Annie  H.  Lord  and  Mr.  Will- 

o          «/ 

iam   Beeching :  — 

ODE. 

Great  Freedom!     Maid  divinely   born, 
Thine  was  the  Champion  that  we  mourn, 
Thou,  guest  of  triumph  and  delight, 
Attend  to-day  our  funeral  rite. 


68  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

When  in  thy  cause  our  fathers  bled, 
Rebellion  raised  her  angry  head, 
And  Civil  War,  with  mailed  hand, 
Smote  at  the  beauty  of  the  land ; 

And  many  a  chieftain  came  and  went, 
With  thought  perplexed,  ill  content 
To  lead  his  troops  with  faltering  breath 
Deep  in  the  glittering  toils  of  death ; 

And  many  a  household  ope'd  its  door 
To  one  whose  lips  should  move  no   more : 
The  ai'row  rankling  in  its  breast, 
That  sped  that  silent,  solemn  guest. 

But  when  our  greatest  need  was  near, 
We  heard  a  sudden  cry  of  cheer 
That  rolled  and  deepened.     Could  it  be  ? 
It  was  the  shout  of  victory. 

For  on  the  field  a  master-hand 
Marshalled  and  led  the  patriot  band ; 
And,  in  an  order  grand  and  bold, 
The  din  was  hushed,  the  strife  controlled. 

Unblest  the  hands  that  loosed  afar 
The  dreadful  enginery  of  war  ! 
Thrice  blessed  he  who  marched  amain 
To  bring  us  holy  peace  again. 

A  conqueror  crowned  for  deeds   of  might, 
But  happiest  in  the  victor's  might, 
When  the  strong  arm  that  dealt  the   blow 
Might  lift  and  help  the  prostrate  foe. 

Rest  with  thy  laurels,  generous  chief ! 
Lamented  with  a  nation's  grief, 
Remembered  with  such  grateful  praise 
As  heralds  thee  to  distant  days. 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES.  69 

Released  from  struggle  to  sweet  sleep, 
May  loving  hearts  thy  vigils  keep, 
While  Faith's  sure  promise  seals  for  thee 
The  last  surpassing  victory. 


His  Honor  the  Mayor  then  said  :  — 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  Professor  Moses  True  Brown 
has  kindly  consented  to  read  a  poem  written  for  the 
occasion  by  Miss  Louise  Imogen  Guiney.  It  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  remark  that  Miss  Guiney  is  the  daughter 
of  General  Guiney,  the  brave  commander  of  the  Ninth 
Regiment. 


Prof.    BROWN    then    read    the    following    poem :  — 


GRANT. 


I. 


Once  to  the  pomp  of  the  joy-bells1  peal, 

Supple  as  oak  in  his  jointed  steel, 

The  laurelled  consul,  released  from  marches, 
Led  tall  Jugurtha  under  the  arches, 

Chafing  in  gyves  at  his  car's  gold  wheel : 


II. 


But  dumbly  enduring  the  thorn  and  rood 
Of  war,  for  the  hope  of  immortal  good, 
Our  mighty  leader  outvied  the  Roman, 
Laying,  for  chain  on  the  neck  of  his  foeman, 
Compassion,  and  candor,  and  knightlihood ! 


70  MEMORIAL  OF  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT. 

Til. 

True  metal  he,  to  his  bright  sword's  tip ; 
Potent  and  few  the  words  of  his  lip. 

Cajoler  of  none ;  austere,  yet  tender ; 

Of  right,  avenger,  of  wrong,  amender; 
Secure  from  the  fever  of  rivalship : 


IV. 


With  the  lion's  front,  and  his  foot-fall  mild, 
Unangered,  unshaken,  and   unbeguiled ; 

From  camps  to  the  heavy  trust  of  a  nation ; 

Through  censure,  and  triumph,  and  desolation, 
To  pardon,  and  peace,  and  the  sleep  of  a  child. 


Behold  our  Soldier!     And  his  advance 
Meant  forethought,  labor,  and  sufferance. 

These  make  his  worth;  these,  our  thanksgiving; 

For  he,  in  the  charm  of  his  simple  living, 
Was  more  than  the  heroes  of  old  romance. 


VI. 


And  thou,  loadstar  of  our  holiest  pride, 

When  even  the  beauty  of  them  that  died 

Shone  not  in  the  heaven  of  our  grief  above   thee, 
O  Land,  now  like  to  the  souls  that  love  thee, 

By  anguish  and  misery  purified! 

VII. 

Remembering  tales  of  the  captive  kings 
And  their  jeering  victors ;  and,  with   these  things, 
Thy  day  that  was  altar,  and  font,  and  sermon, 
When  Johnson  and  Buckner,  with  Sheridan,  Sherman, 
Riding  abreast  where  the  Hudson  sings, 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES.  71 

VIII. 

Down  the  blue  ranks  to  the  sacred  sod, 
Bore  out  our  Greatest  from  paths  he  trod, 

'Mid  trailing  of  arms  and  drum-taps  solemn. 

And  rustle  of  lowering  flags  in  the  column, 
From  the  psalm  of  the  guns  to  the  peace  of  God. 


IX. 


Rejoice !     Though  the  uttermost  praise  we   frame 
Be  homage  too  poor,  and  forlorn  acclaim, 

The  break  in  their  voices  —  yea!  that  is  glory, 

Music,  and  garlands  and  oratory. 
Noble  for  aye  as  his  noble  name. 


The  choir  then  sang  the  motetto  "  Gone  through  the  Shadow," 
composed  by  H.  M.  Dow.  Words  by  M.  J.  SAVAGE,  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

Gone  through  the  Shadow! 

Gone  through  the  valley  of  Shadow ! 
Hail,  O  our  Captain!     Hail,  O  patient  One,  crowned  as  Victor! 

Oh !  our  brother  gone  before  us ! 
O'er  earth's  sorrows,  o'er  the  death-pain,  thou  hast  conquered ! 

Glory!  Glory!  Live  now  all  glorious! 
In  our  hearts  still,  as  in  old  times,  be  thou  cherished! 

And  in  thy  footsteps  we'll  follow! 
Till  for  all  men  Death  is  conquered  forever! 
Amen  !  Amen !  Amen  ! 


Mayor  O'BRIEN  then  introduced  the  orator  as  follows  :  — 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  immediately  after  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  General  Grant,  the  City  Council  of 
Boston  met  and  passed  appropriate  resolutions,  in  honor 


72  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

of  the  memory  of  the  great  soldier.  One  of  our  most 
eminent  sons  addressed  his  fellow-citizens  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  and  recalled  the  events  of  General  Grant's  life.  To 
complete  our  tribute  to  the  memory  of  that  life,  I  have 
the  honor  of  introducing  the  most  distinguished  and  best- 
known  orator  in  this  country,  the  Reverend  HENRY 
WARD  BEECHEK. 

Mr.  Beechcr  stepped  forward,  in  response  to  the  Mayor's 
remarks,  and  was  received  with  a  round  of  applause.  His  address 
was  delivered  from  notes,  in  a  clear  tone  and  deliberate  manner, 
and  he  was  followed  with  the  closest  attention  by  his  appreciative 
hearers. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  eulogy,  which  occupied  about  an  hour 
in  its  delivery,  the  choir  sang  "The  American  Song,"  composed 
by  V.  CIRILLO.  Words  by  M.  J.  SAVAGE.  The  solos  were  sung 
by  Mrs.  L.  F.  C.  Richardson  and  Mr.  Charles  R.  Adams.  It 
was  finely  rendered,  and  formed  a  fitting  close  to  the  memorial 
services. 

THE     AMERICAN     SOXG. 


I. 


What  song  shall  America  sing, 

Young  heir  of  the  elder  world, 
Whose  knee  ne'er  bent  to  a  tyrant  king, 

Whose  banner  defeat  ne'er  furled? 
A  song  for  the  brave  and  the  free  ! 

No  echo  of  ancient  rhyme ; 
But  a  shout  of  hope  for  the  day  to  be, 

The  light  of  the  coming  time  ! 

Chorus.  —  A  song  for  the  brave,  etc. 


MEMORIAL    SERVICES.  73 

II. 

From  the  dark  low  lands  of  the  past, 

Swelling  loud  o'er  the  victim's  cries, 
The  hero's  shout  sweeps  up  the  blast 

Where  wounded  Freedom  dies. 
The  drum's  dull  beat  and  the  trumpet's  blare 

From  the  far-off  years  are  heard ; 
But  the  prean  of  kings  is  man's  despair, 

And  the  hope  of  the  world  deferred. 

Chorus.  —  The  drum's  dull  beat,  etc. 


III. 

'Tis  the  song  of  the  free  we  sing ! 

Of  a  good  time  not  yet  born, 
Where  each  man  of  himself  is  king, 

Of  a  day  whose  gladsome  morn 
Shall  see  the  earth  beneath  our  feet 

And  a  fair  sky  overhead; 
When  those  now  sad  shall  find  life  sweet, 

And  none  shall  hunger  for  bread. 

Chorus.  —  Shall  see  the  earth,  etc. 


Sing,  then,  our  American  song ! 

'Tis  no  boast  of  triumphs  won 
At  the  price  of  another's  wrong, 

Or  of  foul  deeds  foully  done. 
We  fight  for  the  wide  world's  right, 

To  enlarge  life's  scope  and  plan, 
To  flood  the  earth  with  hope  and  light, 

To  build  the  Kingdom  of  Man. 

Chorus.  -  •  We  fight  for  the,  etc. 


Rev.  Mr.  HAMILTON  then  pronounced  the  benediction,  and  the 
large  audience  gradually  dispersed. 


THE  EULOGY,  BY  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


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THE     EULOGY. 


Another  name  is  added  to  the  roll  of  those  whom  the 
world  will  not  willingly  let  die.  A  few  years  since  storm- 
clouds  filled  his  heaven,  and  obloquy,  slander,  and  bitter 
lies  rained  down  upon  him. 

The  clouds  are  all  blown  away.  Under  a  serene  sky  he 
laid  down  his  life,  and  the  Nation  wept.  The  path  to  his 
tomb  is  worn  by  the  feet  of  innumerable  pilgrims.  The 
mildewed  lips  of  Slander  are  silent,  and  even  Criticism 
hesitates  lest  some  incautious  word  should  mar  the  history 
of  the  modest,  gentle,  magnanimous  warrior. 

The  whole  nation  watched  his  passage  through  humili 
ating  misfortunes  with  unfeigned  sympathy;  the  whole 
world  sighed  when  his  life  ended.  At  his  burial  the  un- 
sworded  hands  of  those  whom  he  had  fought  lifted  his 
bier  and  bore  him  to  his  tomb  with  love  and  reverence. 

Grant  made  no  claim  to  saintship.  He  was  a  man  of 
like  passions,  and  with  as  marked  limitations  as  other 
men.  Nothing  could  be  more  distasteful  to  his  honest, 
modest  soul  while  living,  and  nothing  more  unbecoming 
to  his  memory,  than  lying  exaggerations  and  fulsome 
flatteries. 

Men  without  faults  are  apt  to  be  men  without  force.  A 
round  diamond  has  no  brilliancy.  Lights  and  shadows, 


78  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

hills  and  valleys,  give  beauty  to  the  landscape.  The 
faults  of  great  and  generous  natures  are  often  over-ripe 
goodness,  or  the  shadows  which  their  virtues  cast. 

Three  elements  enter  into  the  career  of  a  great  citizen : 

That  which  his  ancestry  gives ; 

That  which  opportunity  gives; 

That  which  his  will  develops. 

Grant  came  from  a  sturdy  New  England  stock;  New 
England  derived  it  from  Scotland;  Scotland  bred  it,  at  a 
time  when  Covenanters  and  Puritans  were  made,  —  men 
of  iron  consciences  hammered  out  upon  the  anvil  of  ad 
versity.  From  New  England  the  stream  flowed  to  the 
Ohio,  where  it  enriched  the  soil  till  it  brought  forth  abun 
dant  harvests  of  great  men.  When  it  was  Grant's  time 
to  be  born  he  came  forth  without  celestial  portents  and 
his  youth  had  in  it  no  prophecy  of  his  manhood.  His 
boyhood  was  wholesome,  robust,  with  a  vigorous  frame. 
With  a  heart  susceptible  of  lender  love,  he  yet  was  not 
social.  He  was  patient  and  persistent.  He  loved  horses 
and  could  master  them.  That  is  a  good  sign. 

Grant  had  no  art  of  creating  circumstances;  opportu 
nity  must  seek  him,  or  else  he  would  plod  through  life 
without  disclosing  the  gifts  which  God  hid  in  him.  The 
gold  in  the  hills  cannot  disclose  itself.  It  must  be  sought 
and  dug. 

A  sharp  and  wiry  politician,  for  some  reason  of  Provi 
dence,  performed  a  generous  deed  in  sending  young 
Grant  to  West  .Point.  He  finished  his  course  there,  dis 
tinguished  as  a  skilful  and  bold  rider,  with  an  inclination 
to  mathematics,  but  with  little  taste  for  the  theory  and 
literature  of  war,  but  with  sympathy  for  its  external  and 


THE    EULOGY.  79 

material  developments.  In  boyhood  and  youth  he  was 
marked  by  simplicity,  candor,  veracity,  and  silence. 

After  leaving  the  Academy  he  saw  service  in  Mexico, 
and  afterward  in  California,  but  without  conspicuous 
results. 

Then  came  a  clouded  period,  a  sad  life  of  irresolute 
vibration  between  self-indulgence  and  aspiration  through 
intemperance.  He  resigned  from  the  army,  and  at  that 
time  one  would  have  feared  that  his  life  would  end  in 
eclipse.  Hercules  crushed  two  serpents  sent  to  destroy 
him  in  his  cradle.  It  was  later  in  his  life  that  Grant  de 
stroyed  the  enemy  that  "  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth 
like  an  adder." 

At  length  he  struck  at  the  root  of  the  matter.  Others 
agree  not  to  drink,  which  is  good;  Grant  overcame  the 
wish  to  drink,  which  is  better.  But  the  cloud  hung 
over  his  reputation  for  many  years,  and  threatened  his 
ascendancy  when  better  days  came.  Of  all  his  victories, 
many  and  great,  this  was  the  greatest,  that  he  conquered 
himself.  His  will  was  stronger  than  his  passions. 

Poor,  much  shattered,  he  essayed  farming.  Carrying 
wood  for  sale  to  St.  Louis  did  not  seem  to  be  that  for 
which  he  was  created;  neither  did  planting  crops,  or  rais 
ing  cattle. 

Tanning  is  an  honorable  calling,  and,  to  many,  a  road 
to  wealth.  Grant  found  no  gold  in  the  tan  vat. 

Then  he  became  a  listless  merchant,  —  a  silent,  unsocial 
and  rather  moody  waiter  upon  petty  traffic. 

He  was  a  good  subaltern,  a  poor  farmer,  a  worse  tan 
ner,  a  worthless  trafficker.  Without  civil  experience,  with 
out  literary  gifts,  too  diffident  to  be  ambitious,  too  modest 


80  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

to  put  himself  forward,  too  honest  to  be  a  politician,  he 
was  of  all  men  the  least  likely  to  attain  eminence,  and 
absolutely  unfitted,  apparently,  for  preeminence;  yet 
God's  Providence  selected  him. 

When  the  prophet  Samuel  went  forth  to  anoint  a  suc 
cessor  to  the  impetuous  and  imperious  King  Saul,  he 
caused  all  the  children  of  Jesse  to  pass  before  him.  He 
rejected  one  by  one  the  whole  band.  At  length  the 
youngest  called  from  among  the  flock  came  in,  and  the 
Lord  said  to  Samuel,  "Arise,  this  is  lie;  "  and  Samuel  took 
the  horn  of  oil  and  anointed  him  in  the  midst  of  his 
brethren,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  him  from 
that  day  forward.  (I.  Sam.  xvi.) 

Ordained  was  Grant  with  the  ointment  of  war  —  black 
and  sulphurous. 

Had  Grant  died  at  the  tanyard,  or  from  behind  the 
counter,  the  world  would  never  have  suspected  that  it  had 
lost  a  hero.  He  would  have  fallen  as  an  undistinguish- 
able  leaf  among  the  millions  cast  down  every  year.  His 
time  had  not  come.  It  was  plain  that  he  had  no  capacity 
to  create  his  opportunity.  IT  must  find  him  out,  or  he 
would  die  ignoble  and  unknown! 

It  was  coming !  Already  the  clouds  afar  off  were  gath 
ering.  He  saw  them  not.  No  figures  were  seen  upon 
the  dim  horizon  of  the  already  near  future. 

The  insulted- flag;  the  garments  rolled  in  blood;  a 
million  men  in  arms;  the  sulphurous  smoke  of  battle; 
gory  heaps  upon  desperate  battle-fields;  an  army  of 
slowly  moving  crippled  heroes ;  grave-yards  populous  as 
cities;  they  were  all  in  the  clouded  horizon,  though  he 
saw  them  not! 


THE    EULOGY.  81 

Let  us  look  upon  the  scene  on  which  he  was  soon  to 
exert  a  mighty  energy. 

This  continent  lay  waiting  for  ages  for  the  seed  of  civ 
ilization.  At  length  a  sower  came  forth  to  sow.  While 
he  sowed  the  good  seed  of  liberty  and  Christian  civiliza 
tion,  an  enemy,  darkling,  sowed  tares.  They  sprang  up 
and  grew  together.  The  Constitution  cradled  both 
Slavery  and  Liberty.  While  yet  ungrown  they  dwelt 
together  in  peace.  They  snarled  in  youth,  quarrelled 
when  half  grown,  and  fought  when  of  full  age.  The  final 
catastrophe  was  inevitable.  No  finesse,  no  device  or 
compromise  could  withstand  the  inevitable.  The  conflict 
began  in  Congress;  it  drifted  into  commerce;  it  rose  into 
the  very  air,  and  public  sentiment  grew  hot,  and  raged  in 
the  pulpit,  the  forum,  and  in  politics. 

The  South,  like  a  queenly  beauty,  grew  imperious  and 
exacting;  the  North,  like  an  obsequious  suitor,  knelt  at 
her  feet  only  to  receive  contempt  and  mockery. 

Both  parties,  Whig  and  Democrat,  drank  of  the  cup 
of  her  sorcery.  It  killed  the  Whig  party.  The  Demo 
crat  was  tougher,  and  was  only  besotted.  A  few,  like 
John  the  Baptist,  were  preaching  repentance,  but,  like 
him,  they  were  in  the  wilderness,  and  seemed  rude  and 
shaggy  fanatics. 

If  a  wise  moderation  had  possessed  the  South,  if  they 
had  conciliated  the  North,  if  they  had  met  the  just 
scruples  of  honest  men,  who,  hating  slavery,  dreaded  the 
dishonor  of  breaking  the  compacts  of  the  Constitution, 
the  South  might  have  held  control  for  another  hundred 
years.  It  was  not  to  be.  God  sent  a  strong  delusion 
upon  them. 


82  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  all  parties  in  the 
State  were  drifting  in  the  dark,  without  any  comprehen 
sion  of  the  elemental  causes  at  work.  Without  prescience 
or  sagacity,  like  ignorant  physicians,  they  prescribed  at 
random;  they  sewed  on  patches,  new  compromise  upon 
old  garments;  sought  to  conceal  the  real  depth  and 
danger  of  the  gathering  torrent  by  crying  peace,  peace, 
to  each  other.  In  short,  they  were  seeking  to  medicate 
volcanoes  and  stop  earthquakes  by  administering  political 
quinine.  The  wise  statesmen  were  bewildered  and  poli 
ticians  were  juggling  fools. 

The  South  had  laid  the  foundation  of  her  industry,  her 
commerce,  and  her  commonwealth  upon  Slavery.  It  was 
Slavery  that  inspired  her  councils,  that  engorged  her 
philanthropy,  that  corrupted  her  political  economy  and 
theology,  that  disturbed  all  the  ways  of  active  politics; 
broke  up  sympathy  between  !North  and  South.  As  Ahab 
met  Elijah  with  "Art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel?" 
so  Slavery  charged  the  sentiments  of  Freedom  with  vexa 
tious  meddling  and  unwarrantable  interference. 

The  South  had  builded  herself  upon  the  rock  of 
Slavery.  It  lay  in  the  very  channels  of  Civilization,  like 
some  Flood  Rock  lying  sullen  off  Hell  Gate.  The  tides 
of  controversy  rushed  upon  it  and  split  into  eddies  and 
swirling  pools,  bringing  incessant  disaster.  The  rock 
would  not  move.  It  must  be  removed.  It  was  the  South 
itself  that  furnished  the  engineers.  Arrogance  in  Council 
sunk  the  shaft,  Violence  chambered  the  subterranean 
passages,  and  Infatuation  loaded  them  with  infernal 
dynamite.  All  was  secure.  Their  rock  was  their  for 
tress.  The  hand  that  fired  upon  Sumter  exploded  the 


THE    EULOGY.  83 

mine,  and  tore  the  fortress  to  atoms.  For  one  moment 
it  rose  into  the  air  like  spectral  hills;  for  one  moment 
the  waters  rocked  with  wild  confusion,  then  settled  back 
to  quiet,  and  the  way  of  Civilization  was  opened ! 

The  spark  that  was  kindled  at  Fort  Sumter  fell  upon 
the  !North  like  fire  upon  autumnal  prairies.  Men  came 
together  in  the  presence  of  this  universal  calamity 
with  sudden  fusion.  They  forgot  all  separations  of 
politics,  parties,  or  even  of  religion  itself.  It  was  a  con 
flagration  of  patriotism.  The  bugle  and  the  drum  rang 
out  in  every  neighborhood;  the  plough  stood  still  in  the 
furrow;  the  hammer  dropped  from  the  anvil;  book  and 
pen  were  forgotten;  pulpit  and  forum,  court  and  shop, 
felt  the  electric  shock.  Parties  dissolved  and  reformed. 
The  Democratic  party  sent  forth  a  host  of  noble  men,  and 
swelled  the  Republican  ranks,  and  gave  many  noble 
leaders  and  irresistible  energy  to  the  hosts  of  War. 
The  whole  land  became  a  military  school,  and  officers 
and  men  began  to  learn  the  art  and  practice  of  war. 

When  once  the  ISTorth  had  organized  its  armies  there 
was  soon  disclosed  an  amiable  folly  of  conciliation.  It 
hoped  for  some  peaceable  way  out  of  the  war;  Generals 
seemed  to  fight  so  that  no  one  should  be  hurt;  they  saw 
the  mirage  of  future  parties  above  the  battle-field,  and 
anxiously  considered  the  political  effect  of  their  military 
conduct.  They  were  fighting  not  to  break  down  rebellion, 
but  to  secure  a  future  presidency,  or  governorship. 
The  South  had  smelted  into  a  glowing  mass.  It  believed 
in  its  course  with  an  infatuation  that  would  have  been 
glorious  if  the  cause  had  been  better!  It  put  its  whole 
soul  into  it,  and  struck  hard. 


84  MEMORIAL    OF     ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

The  South  fought  for  slavery  and  independence.  The 
ISTorth  fought  for  Union,  but  for  political  success  after  the 
War.  Thus  for  two  years,  not  unmarked  by  great  deeds, 
the  war  lingered.  Lincoln,  sad  and  sorrowful,  felt  the 
moderation  of  his  generals,  and  longed  for  a  man  of  iron 
mould,  who  had  but  two  words  in  his  military  vocabulary, 
VICTORY  or  ANNIHILATION. 

He  was  coming!  He  was  heard  from  at  Henry  and 
Donelson. 

Three  great  names  were  rising  to  sight,  —  Sherman, 
Thomas,  Sheridan ;^and,  larger  than  either,  Grant!  With 
his  advent  the  armies,  with  some  repulses,  went  steadily 
forward  from  conquering  to  conquer. 

Aside  from  all  military  qualities  he  had  one  absorbing 
spirit, —  the  Union  must  be  saved,  the  rebellion  must  be 
beaten,  the  Confederate  armies  must  be  threshed  to  chaff 
as  on  a  summer  threshing-floor.  He  had  110  political  am 
bition,  no  imaginary  reputation  to  preserve  or  gain.  A 
great  genius  for  grand  strategy,  a  comprehension  of  com 
plex  and  vast  armies,  caution,  prudence,  and  silence  while 
preparing,  an  endless  patience,  an  indomitable  will,  and  a 
real,  downright  fighting  quality. 

Thus,  at  length  Grant  was  really  born !  He  had  lain  in 
the  nest  for  long  as  an  infertile  egg.  The  brooding  of 
war  hatched  the  egg,  and  an  eagle  came  forth. 

It  is  impossible  to  reach  the  full  measure  of  Grant's 
military  genius  until  we  survey  the  greatness  of  this  most 
extraordinary  war  of  modern  days,  or  it  may  be  said  of 
any  age. 

For  more  than  four  years  there  were  more  than  a  mil 
lion  men  on  each  side,  stretched  out  upon  a  line  of  be- 


THE    EULOGY.  85 

tween  one  and  two  thousand  miles,  and  a  blockade  rigor 
ously  enforced  along  a  coast  of  an  equal  extent.  During 
that  time,  counting  no  battle  in  •which  there  were  not 
500  Union  men  engaged,  there  were  fought  more  than 
2,000  engagements,  —  2,261  of  record. 

Amid  this  sea  of  blood  there  shot  up  great  battles,  that 
for  numbers,  fighting,  and  losses  will  rank  with  the  great 
battles  of  the  world. 

In  1862  the  losses  by  death,  wounds,  and  missing 
on  each  side,  as  extracted  from  Government  records, 
were  :  — 

Union.          Confed.        Total. 

1.  Sbiloh 13,500  10,699  24,199 

2.  Seven  Pines  and  Fair  Oaks          .          .  5,739  7,997  13,736 

3.  7-Day  Retreat  and  Malvern  Hill          .  15,249  17,583  32,832 

4.  2d  Bull  Run 7,800  3,700  11,100 

5.  Antietam 12,469  25,899  38,367 

6.  Fredericksburg 12,353  4,576  16,929 

7.  Stone  River                                               .  11,578  25,560  37,138 


1863. 

8.  Chancellorsville           ....  16,030  12,281       28,311 

9.  Gettysburg 23,186  31,621       54,807 

10.  Chickamauga 15,851  17,804      33,655 

11.  Chattanooga 5,616  8,684 

1864. 

12.  Wilderness 37,737  11.400      49,137 

13.  Spottsylvania 26,421  9,000      35,421 

14.  Cold  Harbor 14,931  r,700      16,700 

15.  Petersburg 10,586  28,000      38,586 

16.  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta      .          .         .  37,199 


86  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Over  26,000  ^Northern  soldiers  died  in  prison  in  captiv 
ity.  If  we  reckon  all  who  perished  by  violence  and  by 
sickness  on  both  sides,  nearly  a  million  died  in  the  War 
of  Emancipation. 

The  number  must  be  largely  swelled  if  we  add  all  who 
died  at  home,  of  sickness  and  wounds  received  in  the 
campaign. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  in  his  report,  dated  November 
22,  1865,  makes  the  following  remarks,  which  show  more 
than  anything  else  the  spirit  animating  the  people  of  the 
loyal  States:  "On  several  occasions,  when  troops  were 
promptly  needed  to  avert  impending  disaster,  vigorous 
exertion  brought  them  into  the  field  from  remote  States 
with  incredible  speed.  Official  reports  show  that  after 
the  disasters  on  the  Peninsula,  in  1862,  over  80,000  troops 
were  enlisted,  organized,  armed,  equipped,  and  sent  into 
the  field  in  less  than  a  month.  60,000  troops  have  repeat 
edly  gone  to  the  field  within  four  weeks.  90,000  infantry 
were  sent  to  the  armies  from  the  five  States  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin,  within  twenty 
days.  When  Lee's  army  surrendered,  thousands  of  re 
cruits  were  pouring  in,  and  men  were  discharged  from 
recruiting  stations  and  rendezvous  in  every  State." 

Into  this  sulphurous  storm  of  war  Grant  entered  almost 
unknown.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  he  could  obtain  a 
command.  Once  set  forward,  Donelson,  ShiloJi,  Vicks- 
btirg,  Chattanooga,  The  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  Peters 
burg,  Appomattox,  —  these  were  his  footsteps.  I»  four 
years  he  had  risen,  without  political  favor,  from  the  bot 
tom  to  the  very  highest  command,  —  not  second  to  any 
living  commander  in  all  the  world! 


THE    EULOGY.  87 

His  plans  were  large,  his  undiscouraged  will  was 
patient  to  obduracy.  He  was  not  fighting  for  reputation, 
nor  for  the  display  of  generalship,  nor  for  a  future  presi 
dency.  He  had  but  one  motive,  and  that  as  intense  as 
life  itself,  —  the  subjugation  of  the  rebellion  and  the  res 
toration  of  the  broken  Union.  He  embodied  the  feelings 
of  the  common  people.  He  was  their  perfect  representa 
tive.  The  war  was  waged  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union,  the  suppression  of  armed  resistance,  and,  at  length 
for  the  eradication  of  Slavery.  Every  step,,  from  Donel- 
son  to  Appomattox,  evinced  with  increasing  intensity  this 
his  one  terrible  purpose.  He  never  wavered,  turned  aside, 
or  dallied.  He  Avaded  through  blood  to  the  horses'  bridles. 

In  all  this  career  he  never  lost  courage  or  equanimity. 
With  a  million  men,  for  whose  movements  he  was  re 
sponsible,  he  yet  carried  a  tranquil  mind,  neither  depressed 
by  disasters  nor  elated  by  success.  Gentle  of  heart,  famil 
iar  with  all,  never  boasting,  always  modest,  —  Grant  came 
of  the  old  self-contained  stock,  —  men  of  a  simple  force 
of  being,  which  allied  his  genius  to  the  great  elemental 
forces  of  Nature,  silent,  invisible,  irresistible.  When  his 

work  was  done,  and  the  defeat  of  Confederate  armies  was 

% 
final,  this  dreadful  man  of  blood  was  tender  toward  his 

late  adversaries  as  a  woman  toward  her  son.  He  imposed 
no  humiliating  conditions,  spared  the  feelings  of  his  an 
tagonists,  sent  home  the  disbanded  Southern  men  with 
food  and  with  horses  for  working  their  crops;  and  when 
a  revengeful  spirit  in  the  Executive  chair  showed  itself, 
and  threatened  the  chief  Southern  Generals,  Grant,  with 
a  holy  indignation,  interposed  himself,  and  compelled  his 
superior  to  relinquish  his  rash  purpose. 


88  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

There  have  been  men  —  there  are  yet,  for  stupidity  is 
long-lived  —  who  regard  Grant  as  only  a  man  of  luck. 
Surely  he  was!  Ts  it  not  luck  through  such  an  ancestry 
to  have  had  conferred  upon  him  such  a  body,  such  a 
disposition,  such  greatness  of  soul,  such  patriotism  un 
alloyed  by  ambition,  such  military  genius,  such  an  in 
domitable  will,  and  such  a  capacity  for  handling  the 
largest  armies  of  any  age? 

For  four  years  and  more  this  man  of  continuous  Luck, 
across  a  rugged  continent,  in  the  face  of  armies  of  men 
as  brave  as  his  own,  commanded  by  Generals  of  extraor 
dinary  ability,  performed  every  function  of  strategy  in 
grand  War,  which  Jomini  attributes  to  Napoleon  and 
his  greatest  marshals,  and  Napier  to  Wellington. 
Whether  Grant  could  have  conducted  a  successful  re 
treat  will  never  be  known.  He  was  never  defeated. 

Grant  has  been  severely  criticised  for  the  waste  of  life. 
War  is  not  created  for  the  purpose  of  saving  life,  but,  by 
a  noble  spending  of  blood,  to  save  the  Commonwealth. 
The  great  end  which  he  achieved  would  have  been 
cheaply  gained  at  double  the  expense. 

After  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness  he  was  styled  the 

f 
Butcher. 

But  we  are  not  to  forget  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  conduct  of  the  last  great  campaign  was  committed  to 
him.  For  four  years  the  heroic  and  patient  Army  of  the 
Potomac  had  squandered  blood  and  treasure  without 
measure,  and  had  gained  not  a  step.  With  Generals 
many,  excellently  skilled  in  logistics,  skilful  in  every 
thing  but  success,  they  fought  and  retreated;  they  dug, 
they  waded,  they  advanced,  and  returned.  They  went 


THE    EULOGY.  89 

down  to  Richmond  and  looked  upon  it,  and  came  back  to 
defend  Washington. 

Their  victories  were  fruitless.  Antietam  was  ably 
fought,  but  weakly  followed  up.  Gettysburg,  with  hid 
eous  slaughter,  sent  Lee  back  unpursued,  undestroyed, 
though  he  waited  three  or  four  days,  helpless,  cooped- up 
and  surely  doomed,  had  Sheridan  or  Grant  been  in 
Meade's  place. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  needed  a  General  who 
knew  how  to  employ  their  splendid  bravery,  their  all- 
enduring  pluck.  They  had  danced  long  enough;  they 
had  led  off — changed  partners  —  cliassed  —  they  had 
gone  into  campaigns  with  slow  and  solemn  music,  but 
returned  with  quicksteps.  They  seemed  desirous  of 
making  war  so  as  not  to  exasperate  the  South. 

Do  not  men  know  that  nothing  spends  life  faster  than 
unfighting  war?  Disease  is  more  deadly  than  the  bullet. 
In  all  the  war  but  one  out  of  every  forty-two  that  died 
was  slain  by  the  bullet,  and  one  out  of  every  thirteen  by 
disease.  6,000,000  men  passed  through  the  hospitals 
during  the  war;  over  3,000,000  with  malarial  diseases. 

It  seemed  doubtful  whether  the  Government  was  put 
ting  down  rebellion,  or  whether  Lee  was  putting  down 
the  Government.  An  eminent  critic  says :  ?  The  fire 
and  passion,  downright  earnestness  and  self-abandon  that 
the  South  threw  into  the  struggle  at  the  outset  and  main 
tained  for  two  full  years,  had,  it  must  be  admitted,  so  far 
impaired  the  morale  of  the  Union  forces,  that  while 
courage  was  nowhere  wanting,  self-confidence  had  been 
seriously  diminished." 

This  was  especially  true  of  the  devoted  and  decimated 


90  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  whose  commanders,  after  the 
first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  always  appeared  to  be  afraid 
of  exasperating  the  enemy.  Driving  Lee  to  extremi 
ties  was  the  one  thing  that  they  were  all  loath  to 
do.  They  would  fight  to  the  last  drop  of  blood  to 
defend  Washington,  to  hold  their  own,  to  preserve  the 
Union;  but  to  corner  the  enemy,  to  drive  him  to  desper 
ation,  to  make  him  shed  the  last  drop  of  his  own  blood, 
was  the  one  thing  they  would  not  do,  and  no  amount  of 
urging  could  make  them  do  it.  It  was  this  arriere  pensee 
that  held  the  hand  of  McClellan  and  of  Meade  after 
Antietain  and  Gettysburg.  Both  of  these  engagements 
were  victories  for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  both 
were  robbed  of  their  fruits  by  a  lurking  fear  of  the  lion 
at  bay.  '*  They  are  r  shooing '  the  enemy  out  of  Mary 
land,"  said  Lincoln,  with  his  peculiar  aptness  and  home 
liness. 

When  Grant  came  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  he 
reversed  the  methods  of  all  who  preceded  him.  Braver 
soldiers  never  were,  nor  more  valiant  commanders;  but 
the  Generals  had  not  learned  the  art  of  fighting  with 
deadly  intent.  Peace  is  very  good  for  peace,  but  war 
is  organized  Rage.  It  means  destruction,  or  it  means 
nothing. 

At  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness  Grant  stripped  his 
commissary  train  of  its  guards  to  fill  a  gap  in  the  line  of 
battle.  When  expostulated  with  for  exposing  his  army 
to  the  loss  of  all  its  provisions,  his  reply  was :  — 

?  When  this  army  is  whipped,  it  ivill  not  want  any  pro 
visions" 

All    summer,  all   the    autumn,  all    the   winter,  all    the 


THE    EULOGY.  91 

spring,  and  early  summer  again,  he  hammered  Lee,  with 
blow  on  blow,  until,  at  Appomattox,  the  great,  but  not 
greatest,  Southern  General  went  to  the  ground. 

Grant  was  a  great  fighter,  but  not  a  fighter  only. 

His  mind  took  in  the  whole  field  of  war,  —  as  wide  and 
complex  as  any  that  ever  Napoleon  knew.  He  combined 
in  his  plans  the  operations  of  three  armies,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  the  war,  the  whole  of  the  Union  forces  were 
acting  in  concert. 

He  had  the  patience  of  Fate,  and  the  force  of  Thor. 
If  he  neglected  the  rules  of  war,  as  at  "Vicksburg,  it  was 
to  make  better  rules,  to  those  who  were  strong  enough  to 
employ  them. 

Counsellors  gave  him  materials.  He  formed  his  own 
plans.  Abhorring  show,  simple  in  manner,  gentle  in 
his  intercourse,  modest  and  even  diffident  in  regard  to  his 
own  personality,  he  seems  to  have  been  the  only  man  in 
camp  who  was  ignorant  of  his  own  greatness.  Never 
was  a  commander  better  served,  never  were  subordinates 
more  magnanimously  treated.  The  fame  of  his  Generals 
was  as  dear  to  him  as  his  own.  Those  who  might  have 
been  expected  to  be  his  rivals,  were  his  bosom  friends. 
While  there  were  envies  and  jealousies  among  minor 
officers,  the  great  names,  Thomas,  Sherman,  Sheridan, 
give  to  history  a  new  instance  of  a  great  friendship 
between  great  warriors. 

Some  future  day  a  Napier  will  picture  the  final  drama: 
the  breaking  up  of  Lee's  right  wing  at  Five  Forks;  Lee's 
retreat;  Grant's  grim,  relentless  pursuit;  Sheridan,  like  a 
raging  lion,  heading  off  the  fleeing  armies,  that  were 
wearied,  worn,  decimated,  conquered;  and,  at  the  end, 


92  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

the  modesty  of  their  victorious  General;  the  delicacy 
with  which  he  treated  his  beaten  foe;  the  humanity  of  the 
terms  given  to  the  men:  sent  away  with  food,  and  horses 
for  their  farms ;  all  this  will  form  a  picture  of  War  and 
of  Peace. 

He  never  forgot  that  the  South  was  part  of  his  country. 
The  moment  that  the  South  lay  panting  and  helpless  upon 
the  ground,  Grant  carried  himself  with  magnanimous  and 
sympathetic  consideration.  After  the  fall  of  Richmond 
he  turned  aside  and  returned  to  Washington  without 
entering  the  conquered  capital. 

When  Johnston  surrendered  upon  terms  not  agreeable 
to  Lincoln,  Stanton,  like  a  roaring  lion  fearing  to  lose 
its  prey,  sent  Grant  to  overrule  him.  He  loved  Sher 
man,  and  was  unwilling  to  enter  his  camp  lest  he  should 
seem  to  snatch  from  him  the  glory  of  his  illustrious 
campaign.  From  a  near  town  he  enabled  Sherman  to 
reconstruct  his  terms,  and  accept  General  Johnston's 
surrender. 

When  Lincoln  was  dead,  Vice-President  Johnson 
became  President;  a  man  well  fitted  for  carrying  on  a 
fight,  but  not  skilled  in  Peace,  with  a  morbid  sense  of 
Justice,  he  determined  that  the  leaders  of  rebellion  should 
be  made  to  suffer  as  examples;  as  if  the  death  of  all  the 
first-born,  the  desolation  of  every  Southern  home,  the  im 
poverished  condition  and  bankruptcy  of  every  citizen, 
were  not  example  enough !  He  ordered  Lee  to  be 
arrested.  Grant  refused.  When  Johnson  would*  have 
employed  the  army  to  effect  his  purposes,  Grant,  with 
quick  but  noble  rebellion,  refused  obedience  to  his  supe 
rior,  and,  arranging  to  take  from  his  hands  all  military 


THE    EULOGY.  93 

control,  repressed  the  President's  wild  temper  and  savage 
purpose  of  a  dishonoring  Justice. 

Having  brought  the  long  and  disastrous  war  to  a  close, 
in  his  own  heart  Grant  would  have  chosen  to  have  rested 
upon  his  laurels,  and  lived  a  retired  military  life.  It  was 
not  to  be  permitted.  He  was  called  to  the  presidency 
by  universal  acclaim,  and  it  fell  to  him  to  conduct  a 
campaign  of  Reconstruction  even  more  burdensome  than 
the  war. 

It  would  seem  impossible  to  combine  in  one  eminent 
civil  and  military  genius.  To  a  certain  extent  they  have 
elements  in  common.  But  the  predominant  element  in 
war  is  organized  Force;  of  civil  government,  Influence. 
Statesmanship  is  less  brilliant  than  Generalship,  but 
requires  a  different  and  a  higher  moral  and  intellectual 
genius.  God  is  frugal  in  creating  great  men  —  men 
great  enough  to  hold  in  eminence,  the  elements  of  a  great 
General  and  of  a  great  Ruler.  Washington  was  eminent 
in  Statesmanship;  but  then  he  was  not  a  great  General. 
At  any  rate  he  had  no  opportunity  to  develop  the  fact. 

Alexander  was  a  mere  brutal  fighter. 

Caesar  as  Emperor  differed  from  Ca3sar  as  General  only 
as  a  sword  sheathed  differs  from  a  sword  unsheathed. 

Frederick  the  Great  was  simply  a  military  ruler. 

Napoleon  came  near  to  combine  the  two  elements  in 
the  earlier  period  of  his  career;  but  the  genius  of  Force 
gradually  weakened  that  sense  of  right  and  justice  on 
which  Statesmanship  must  rest. 

Grant  had  in  him  the  element  of  great  Statesmanship ; 
but  neither  his  education,  nor  his  training,  nor  the  des 
perate  necessities  of  war,  gave  it  a  fair  chance  of  develop- 


94  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

ment  in  a  condition  of  things  which  bewildered  the  wisest 
statesmen.  His  admirable  temper  and  fine  sense  of 
justice  and  truth  fitted  him  to  deal  with  the  inflamed 
condition  of  the  public  mind.  He  had  no  animosities,  no 
revenges,  no  secret  ambition,  and  no  commixture  with 
schemes  of  gain.  Whatever  mistakes  he  made,  he  made 
them  with  a  sincere  belief  that  he  was  promoting  the  public 
welfare.  This  must,  I  think,  be  the  final  verdict:  that, 
if  Grant  failed  in  statesmanlike  conduct,  there  was  no 
other  public  man  that  could  have  done  better. 

The  tangled  skein  of  affairs  would  have  tasked  a 
Cavour  or  a  Bismarck.  The  period  of  Reconstruction  is 
yet  too  near  our  war-inflamed  eyes  to  be  philosophically 
judged. 

1.  Came  the  disbanding  of  the  army.  That  was  so 
easily  done  that  the  world  has  never  done  justice  to  the 
marvel.  The  soldiers  of  three  great  armies  dropped  their 
arms  at  the  word  of  command,  dissolved  their  organiza 
tions,  and  disappeared.  To-day  the  mightiest  force  on 
earth,  to-morrow  they  were  not!  As  a  summer  storm 
darkens  the  whole  heavens,  shakes  the  ground  with  its 
thunder,  and  empties  its  quiver  of  lightning,  and  is  gone 
in  an  hour,  as  if  it  had  never  been,  so  was  it  with  both 
armies.  Neither  in  the  South  nor  in  the  North  was  there 
a  cabal  of  officers,  nor  any  affray  of  soldiers,  for  every 
soldier  was  yet  more  a  citizen. 

In  this  resumption  of  citizen  life,  Grant,  accompanied 
by  his  most  brilliant  Generals,  led  the  way.  He  hated 
war,  its  very  insignia,  and  in  foreign  lands  refused  to 
witness  military  pageants.  lie  had  had  enough  of  war. 
He  loved  peace. 


THE    EULOGY.  95 

When  advanced  to  the  Presidency  three  vital  questions 
were  to  be  solved :  — 

1.  The  status  of  the  four  million  emancipated  slaves. 

2.  The    adjustment    of  the    political   relations  of  the 
dislocated    States. 

3.  The    restraint  and  control  of   that  gulf-stream  of 
Finance  which  threatened  to  wash  out  the  foundations  of 
honest  industry,  and  which  brought  to  the  nation  more 
moral  mischief  than  had  the  whole  war  itself.     We  are  in 
peril  from  golden  quicksands  yet. 

Grant  was  eminently  wise  upon  this  question.  His 
veto  saved  the  country  from  a  vitiated  and  corrupting 
circulation. 

The  exaltation  of  the  domestic  African  to  immediate 
citizenship  was  the  most  audacious  act  of  faith  and  fidelity 
that  ever  was  witnessed. 

Their  fidelity  to  the  duties  of  bondage  was  most 
Christian.  In  all  the  war,  knowing  that  their  emancipa 
tion  was  to  be  gained  or  lost,  there  was  never  an  insurrec 
tion,  nor  a  recorded  instance  of  cruelty  or  insubordina 
tion.  This  came  not  from  cowardice;  for,  when,  in  the 
later  periods  of  the  war,  they  were  enlisted  and  drilled, 
they  made  soldiers  so  brave  as  to  extort  admiration  and 
praise  from  prejudice  itself.  They  deserved  their  liberty 
for  their  good  conduct. 

But  were  they  prepared  for  citizenship?  The  safety  of 
our  civil  economy  rests  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
citizen.  But  the  slaves  in  mass  were  greatly  ignorant. 

It  was  a  political  necessity  to  arm  them  with  the  ballot 
as  a  means  of  self-defence. 

In  many  of  the   Southern  States  a  probationary  state 


96  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

would  have  been  wiser,  but  in  others  it  would  have  re 
manded  them  to  substantial  bondage. 

In  this  grand  department  of  Statesmanship,  General 
Grant  accepted  the  views  of  the  most  eminent  Republi 
cans,  —  Stanton,  Chase,  Sumner,  Thad.  Stevens,  Fessen- 
den,  Sherman,  Garfield,  Colliding,  Evarts,  and  of  all  the 
great  leaders. 

In  the  readjustment  of  the  political  relations  of  the 
South  he  was  wise,  generous,  and  magnanimous  in  his 
career.  Not  a  line  in  letter,  speech,  or  message  can  be 
found  that  would  wound  the  self-respect  of  Southern 
citizens. 

When  the  dangerous  heresy  of  a  greenback  currency 
had  gained  political  power,  and  Congress  was  disposed 
to  open  the  floodgates  of  a  rotten  currency,  his  veto,  an 
act  of  courage,  turned  back  the  deluge  and  saved  the  land 
from  a  whole  generation  of  mischief.  Had  he  done  but 
this  one  thing  he  would  have  deserved  well  of  history. 

The  respects  in  which  he  fell  below  the  line  of  sound 
statesmanship  —  and  these  are  not  a  few  —  are  to  be 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  advisers  whom  he  had 
taken  into  his  confidence.  Such  was  his  loyalty  to 
friendship  that  it  must  be  set  down  as  a  fault,  —  a  fault 
rarely  found  among  public  men. 

Many  springs  of  mischief  were  opened  which  still  flow. 
When  it  was  proposed  to  nominate  Grant  for  a  third 
term  the  real  objections  to  the  movement  among  wise 
and  dispassionate  men  was  not  so  much  against  Grant  as 
against  the  staff  which  would  come  in  with  him. 

On  the  whole,  if  one  considers  the  intrinsic  difficulty 
of  the  question  belonging  to  his  administration,  the 


THE    EULOGY.  97 

stormy  days  of  politics  and  parties  during  his  eight  years, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  country  owes  to  his  unselfish 
disposition,  to  his  general  wisdom,  to  his  unsullied  integ 
rity,  if  not  the  meed  of  wisest,  yet  the  reputation  of  one 
who,  preeminent  in  war,  was  eminent  in  administration, 
more  perhaps  by  the  wisdom  of  a  noble  nature  than 
by  that  intelligence  which  is  bred  only  by  experience. 
Imperious  counsellors  and  corrupt  parasites  dimmed  the 
light  of  his  political  administration. 

We  turn  from  Grant's  public  life  to  his  unrestful 
private  life.  After  a  return  from  a  tour  of  the  world, 
during  which  he  met  on  all  hands  a  distinguished  recep 
tion,  he  ventured  upon  the  dangerous  road  of  speculation. 
The  desire  of  large  wealth  was  deep-seated  in  Grant's 
soul.  His  early  experience  of  poverty  had  probably 
taken  away  from  it  all  romance.  Had  wealth  been  sought 
by  a  legitimate  production  of  real  property  he  would 
have  added  one  more  laurel  to  his  career.  But,  with 
childlike  simplicity  of  ignorance,  he  committed  all  he  had 
to  the  wild  chances  of  legalized  gambling.  But  a  few 
days  before  the  humiliating  crash  came  he  believed 
himself  to  be  worth  three  millions  of  dollars!  What 
service  had  been  rendered  for  it?  What  equivalent  of 
industry,  skill,  productiveness,  distribution,  or  conven 
ience?  ]STone.  Did  he  never  think  that  this  golden 
robe,  with  which  he  designed  to  clothe  his  declining 
years,  was  woven  of  air,  was  in  its  nature  unsubstantial, 
and  not  reputable?  His  success  was  a  gorgeous  bubble, 
reflecting  on  its  brilliant  surface  all  the  hues  of  heaven, 
but  which  grew  thinner  as  it  swelled  larger.  A  touch 
dispelled  the  illusion  and  left  him  poor. 


98  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

It  is  a  significant  proof  of  the  impression  produced 
upon  the  public  mind  of  the  essential  honesty  of  his  mind, 
and  of  the  simplicity  of  his  ignorance  of  practical  busi 
ness,  that  the  whole  nation  condoned  his  folly,  and 
believed  in  his  intentional  honesty.  But  the  iron  had 
entered  his  soul.  That  which  all  the  hardships  of  war, 
and  the  wearing  anxieties  of  public  administration  could 
not  do,  the  shame  and  bitterness  of  this  great  bankruptcy 
achieved. 

The  resisting  forces  of  his  body  gave  way.  A  disease 
in  ambush  sprang  forth  and  carried  him  captive. 
Patiently  he  sat  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death. 
A  mild  heroism  of  gentleness  and  patience  hovered  about 
him.  The  iron  will,  that  had  upheld  him  in  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  war,  still  in  a  gracious  guise  sustained  his 
lingering  hours. 

His  household  love,  never  tarnished,  never  abated,  now 
roused  him  to  one  last  heroic  achievement,  —  to  provide 
for  the  future  of  his  family.  ~No  longer  were  there  golden 
hopes  for  himself.  The  vision  of  wealth  had  vanished. 
But  love  took  its  place,  and,  under  weakness,  pain,  and 
anguish,  he  wrought  out  a  history  of  his  remarkable 
career.  A  kindly  hand  administered  the  trust.  It  has 
amply  secured  his  loved  household  from  want. 

When  the  last  lines  were  written  he  laid  back  upon  his 
couch  and  breathed  back  his  great  soul  to  God,  whom  he 
had  worshipped  unostentatiously  after  the  manner  of  his 
fathers. 

A  man  he  was  without  vices,  with  an  absolute  hatred 
of  lies,  and  an  ineradicable  love  of  truth,  of  a  perfect 
loyalty  to  friendship,  neither  envious  of  others  nor  selfish 


THE    EULOGY.  99 

for  himself.  With  a  zeal  for  the  public  good,  .unfeigned, 
he  has  left  to  memory  only  such  weaknesses  as  connect 
him  with  humanity,  and  such  virtues  as  will  rank  him 
among  heroes. 

The  tidings  of  his  death,  long  expected,  gave  a  shock 
to  the  whole  world.  Governments,  rulers,  eminent 
statesmen,  and  scholars  from  all  civilized  nations  gave 
sincere  tokens  of  sympathy.  For  the  hour,  sympathy 
rolled  as  a  wave  over  all  our  own  land.  It  closed  the  last 
furrow  of  war,  it  extinguished  the  last  prejudice,  it  effaced 
the  last  vestige  of  hatred,  and  cursed  be  the  hand  that 
shall  bring  them  back! 

Johnston  and  Buckner  on  one  side,  Sherman  and  Sheri 
dan  upon  the  other,  of  his  bier,  he  has  come  to  his  tomb  a 
silent  symbol  that  Liberty  had  conquered  Slavery,  Patri 
otism  Rebellion,  and  Peace  War. 

He  rests  in  peace.  No  drum  or  cannon  shall  disturb 
his  rest. 

Sleep,  Hero,  until  another  trumpet  shall  shake  the 
heavens  and  the  earth!  Then  come  forth  to  glory  in  im 
mortality. 


FINAL   PROCEEDINGS. 


FINAL  PROCEEDINGS, 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  held  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  October,  1884,  Alderman  PATRICK  J.  DONOVAN  offered 
the  following  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted:  — 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
pressed  to  the  Rev.  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  for  his  inter 
esting  and  patriotic  eulogy  on  the  life  and  character  of 
General  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  delivered  before  the  city 
authorities  on  the  22d  inst.,  in  Tremont  Temple,  and  that 
Mr.  Beecher  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  his  eulogy 
for  publication. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
pressed  to  the  United  States  authorities  in  Boston  for  the 
loan  to  the  city  of  the  portrait  of  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  for  the  memorial  services  in  his  honor  at  Tremont 
Temple  on  the  22d  inst. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
pressed  to  Professor  MOSES  TRUE  BROWN  for  the  accept 
able  manner  in  which  he  performed  the  duty  of  reader  at 
the  memorial  services  at  Tremont  Temple  on  the  22d  inst., 
in  honor  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
tended  to  the  Rev.  B.  F.  HAMILTON  for  performing  the 


104:  MEMORIAL    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT. 

duty  of  chaplain  at  the  memorial  services  at  Tremont 
Temple  on  the  22d  inst.,  in  honor  of  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
tended  to  Miss  LOUISE  IMOGEN  GUINEY  for  the  beautiful 
and  appropriate  poem,  composed  by  her,  at  the  city's  re 
quest,  and  contributed  to  the  memorial  services  on  the 
22d  inst.,  in  honor  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex 
pressed  to  Mrs.  JULIA  WARD  HOWE  for  her  admirable 
poetical  contribution  to  the  memorial  services  at  Tremont 
Temple  on  the  22d  inst.,  in  honor  of  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  ex- 
expressed  to  the  trustees  of  Tremont  Temple  for  their 
courtesy  in  allowing  the  city  the  free  use  of  their  hall  for 
the  memorial  services  on  the  22d  inst.,  in  honor  of  Gen 
eral  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

Severally  passed  unanimously.     Sent  down. 

The  Common  Council  on  the  fifth  of  November  following,  con 
curred  with  the  Aldermen  in  the  passage  of  the  resolutions,  and 
they  were  approved  by  the  Mayor  November  7,  1885. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 
GEN.    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT.1 


1322.  April    27. 

1839. 

1343. 

1847.  September    8. 

1347.  September    13. 

1361.  June    17 

1861.  August    23. 

1862.  February    16. 

1863.  July   4. 

1864.  March    9. 

1866.  July    26. 

1867.  August    12. 
1869.  March    4. 
1877. 

1885.  March    3. 

1885.  July    23. 

1885.  August    8. 


Born    at    Point    Pleasant,    Ohio. 
Entered    West    Point 
Graduated    from    West    Point 

Mada    First    Lieutenant    on    the    battle-field    of    Molino    del 
Ray,    Mexico. 

Made    Captain    for    bravery    at    Chepultepec,    Mexico. 

Colonel    cf    Volunteers. 

Brigadier-General    of    Volunteers. 

Major-General    of    Volunteers. 

Major-Genera!    of   the    Regular    Army. 

Lieutenant-General 

General    of   the    Army. 

Secretary    of    War,    ad   interim. 

President    of   the    United    States. 

Citizen. 

General    of    United    States    Army,    retired    list. 

Died    at    Mount    McGregor,    New    York. 

Buried    at    Riverside    Park,    New    York    City. 


1  From  "Life  and  Deeds  of  Gen.  Grant,"  by  Rev.  P.  C.  Hcadlcy. 


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